Nine aircraft dispatched to ramp up efforts to control wildfire near inland Malaga village as strong winds fan flames

A new forest fire has been declared in Malaga province of Malaga. The Junta de Andalucía's Plan Infoca specialist brigade has reported this Wednesday that a fire broke out in the early hours of the morning in an area in Parauta, in the Serranía de Ronda's Genal valley.

The flames were detected at around 2am in the area known as Cortijo El Navazo. According to Plan Infoca on its social media networks, its ground resources have been working throughout the early hours in the area where seven groups of forest firefighters with five fire engines, a special brigade, four operations technicians, an environmental agent, a medical unit and a mobile meteorology and environmental unit have been deployed.

Since then, more personnel and aircraft have been deployed this Wednesday morning to stabilise the forest fire. Specifically, one heavy helicopter, three medium-heavy helicopters, and one light helicopter were deployed. Four ground-based cargo planes, two heavy amphibious aircraft, and one coordination aircraft were also deployed.

Complicated dawn

During the early morning hours, the situation was particularly difficult for the firefighting teams. According to municipal sources, the fire broke out in a difficult-to-access mountainous area, and fire engines were unable to reach the main fire, forcing firefighters to work on foot for several hours. The lack of aerial resources during that initial period meant that work progressed slowly, making it difficult to contain the flames. It wasn't until around 8.30am that helicopters and planes were brought in, allowing ground operations to be reinforced and allowing them to begin to gain some ground against the blaze.

On the other hand, according to municipal sources, the wind has played a key role in the fire's spread. It changed direction twice during the night, and initially, everything indicated it could push the flames toward the Sierra de las Nieves National Park, which would have meant "an even more serious scenario," explained the mayor of Parauta, Katrin Ortaga.

Fortunately, the shifting winds eventually diverted the fire to other areas of the mountain range, although this was a disadvantage because the fire spread across multiple active areas, making control efforts difficult. This change has forced ground teams to remain constantly alert and reorganise according to the evolution of each front.

The mayor of Parauta expressed the municipality's concerns: "Right now, the fire is still raging, and sadly, the problem is that there are several active fires, so it's not easy to control." Even with this recognition of the seriousness of the fire, she sought to reassure residents, emphasising that there is no risk of evacuation because the homes are far from the danger zone. She insisted that the flames have not reached the town centre, the National Park, or the campsite located within it, which she considers a relief in an equally complex situation.

This latest fire follows another that happened just two months ago in the municipality. On that occasion, the flames affected chestnut groves, mainly private plots belonging to residents. Although the fire was smaller in scale, it also required the mobilisation of Plan Infoca, firefighters, and aircraft.