Fire broke out in Frigiliana on Monday afternoon Sur

Alarm in the Axarquía as four fires break out in 12 hours

Fire brigades and Infoca put out blazes in Alcaucín, Vélez-Málaga, Torrox and Frigiliana, with affected areas of between one and two hectares

Tuesday, 1 February 2022, 12:01

The Axarquia’s fire services and Infoca, the Junta de Andalucía's specialist forest fire brigade, have been called to four blazes in the Axarquía in just 12 hours, raising further concerns over the drought and lack of rainfall in the area.

The first fire broke out on Monday afternoon in olive groves in the Toril area of Alcaucín. Twenty forest firefighters and Infoca's K-70 helicopter were deployed to prevent the fire from spreading to a nearby forest area. Infoca declared the blaze to be extinguished three hours later.

The alarms went off again almost simultaneously in the other three villages, with the Frigiliana blaze believed to have been started by uncontrolled stubble burning in the Loma de la Cruz area near the town centre. Around two hectares of crops, olive groves and scrubland burned and it was declared extinguished in the early hours of this morning. No homes had to be evacuated.

In Torrox fire broke out at around midnight in a residential area between El Peñoncillo and Calaceite beaches, burning approximately one and a half hectares, according to local police sources.

Vélez-Málaga saw two fires in 24 hours, with the second starting in the early hours of Monday morning in an area of palm trees in Almayate Bajo, next to el Hornillo beach. A column of fire and smoke was visible from neighbouring villages.