- EDITIONS:
Spanish News Today
Alicante Today
Andalucia Today
PROPERTY SEARCH
ARCHIVED - Two fires break out near Lorca castle in the early hours of this morning
It is thought that the two fires, which were extinguished at 7.30am, were started intentionally
Two fires broke out in Lorca today, in the early hours of Tuesday July 26.
The fire crews extinguishing the two fires on the hillside of Lorca castle woke up the residents of the San Pedro and Santa Maria neighbourhoods at around 3am. Some 20,000 square metres of undergrowth and scrubland were burnt.
The latest blazes come just hours after a fire in Librilla, central Murcia, that forced several homes to be evacuated.
Members of the Fire Extinguishing Consortium from the Lorca fire station were present at the scene, along with several patrols of the Local Police and the Municipal Emergency Service and Civil Protection.
Two hours later, the alarm was raised on the other side of the hillside of the Castle, near the viewpoint and close to houses. Luckily, the new road that is being built, the Barrios Altos road, would have acted as a firebreak if it had continued to advance.
Thankfully, the fire brigade worked all night and was able to put out both fires, and left the scene just after 7.30am.
Lorca mayor, Diego José Mateos, was also keeping an eye on the fires all night, saying this morning that he was grateful for the work of all those involved in extinguishing the fires.
“I would like to thank the fire brigade, the local police, the Municipal Emergency Service and Civil Protection... because their rapid intervention has prevented the fire from spreading to the entire hillside of the Castle,” he said.
But he also called for caution: “It has rained a lot this spring, so there are a lot of bushes and shrubs. The mountain is very dry and we have to take extreme precautions to avoid scares like the one we experienced early this morning. Fortunately, there has only been material damage.”
He concluded by pointing out that “we believe it was intentional. Someone could have started the two fires, because it is very difficult for two fires to break out within a short distance and at the time they occurred, three and five in the morning.”
Image: @BomberosCEIS_RM / Twitter
