The Orihuela Costa was left shocked and shaken at the end of last week when a vegetation fire swept through more than 10 hectares of land lying between Las Ramblas and Campoamor. At its height it was feared the blaze could destroy not only the golf courses but people’s homes.
The fire broke out Thursday at around 5.30pm near to the Tajo-Segura transfer canal and spread near to homes and the protected Sierra Escalona. The fire saw a huge number of resources brought in to help battle the flames, including ground crews, helicopters and a seaplane. The blaze was finally brought under control in the early hours of Friday morning.
An observation crew of 55 people made up of 40 forest firefighters and 15 members of the Local Police, Civil Guard and Civil Protection remained in place through the night and this was proven to be a fortuitous decision when the fire was reignited by blustery easterly winds in the afternoon. Water dropped from above was once again used to cool the area. Hours later it was back under control, but not before giving a scare when the fire jumped to a place near homes, on Rambla de Oleza street, where the neighbours had to leave their homes. Once again surveillance teams were left in place to monitor the situation.
Luckily the fire did not reach the perimeter of the Sierra Escalona Protected Landscape. However, it is now believed that the land that has burned is developable land which falls into a sector the of Territorial Action Plan (PAT) of the Vega Baja, which was being considered by the previous Consell for reclassification.
Developable land
There are now concerns that the fire could encourage construction in that area as it is no longer forestation. Until the fire the land fell into a grey area where it was deemed developable but was quiet obviously pine forest and Mediterranean scrub vegetation. For this reason, environmentalists believe the land falls outside the scope of the state and Valencian Community legislation on forestry, which states that forest land that has suffered the effects of a fire cannot be classified or reclassified as urban or developable land. Nor may they reduce the protections derived from their use and forest exploitation within a period of 30 years from the time the fire was extinguished.
There are now calls for the stretch of land to be included in the protected area and not deemed developable.