The Junta de Andalucía, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, is going to erect a sculpture that it will place in the Los Reales de Estepona (Málaga) recreational area to honor the forest firefighter from Almería, Carlos Martínez Haro, who lost his life in the intentional fire that occurred in Sierra Bermeja on the night of September 8, 2021.
The Andalusian Government has initiated the procedure to order the sculpture with which the General Directorate of the Environment, Biodiversity and Protected Spaces wants to “eternally honor” the member of the Infoca, so that 40,700 euros have been allocated for the elaboration of the monument memorial.
The sculpture that will be called ‘Homage to Carlos Martínez Haro’ must be made of bronze and have a height of 1.8 meters. Thus, a “realistic” figure has been chosen, which reflects the physical features of the person to be honored and the official clothing, according to the specifications consulted by Europa Press. At the foot of the sculpture, the text should appear in capital letters “Homage to Carlos Martínez Haro, who gave his life in the Sierra Bermeja fire. September 9, 2021».
Those responsible for reproducing the figure, who will have one month to carry out the work, must also have the approval of those responsible for the project once the mold in which the casting will be carried out is completed. Once this process is finished, the sculpture is moved for its final placement in the place indicated above.
Carlos Martínez Haro, linked to the forest defense center (Cedefo) of Alhama de Almería (Almería), which will bear his name, died at the age of 44, being the father of two girls aged 6 and 9 in the fire that put out up to 1,100 firefighters in the Malaga mountains, who fought against the “special virulence of the flames” in an area that forced the eviction of almost 3,000 people and devastated 9,581 hectares. The fire was considered extinguished after 46 days of work.
The Board points out this fire as one of the worst in the history of Spain, since it was even called “sixth generation”. The fire acquired its own dynamics that generated pyrocumulus that made the flames uncontrollable and even caused new foci. In addition, the orography of the terrain made it difficult to fight the flames, which came to include fifty aircraft from different parts of Spain.
Of the total, 7,300 of the hectares of burned forest are publicly owned (78% of the affected land) and another 2,000 are privately owned, according to data handled by the Andalusian Government. According to data from the administration, most of the area corresponds to Estepona, with 4,209 hectares, 43% of the total. In the municipalities of Casares, Jubrique and Genalguacil, more than a thousand hectares were burned in each one. The towns of Júzcar (654), Faraján (304) and Benahavís (0.22) were also affected. Part of the fir forest, of high ecological value and unique in the world, has also been burned.