- News: The fire affects “5,000 hectares” with a perimeter of 41 kilometers.
- News: The town of Jubrique, evicted by the fire: “We are burning.”
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development is committed to the territorial division of emergency actions aimed at restoring the area affected by the Sierra Bermeja forest fire with the aim of shortening the deadlines for the execution of the works as much as possible, since, in this way, a large amount of resources could be mobilized simultaneously. This has been agreed by the Andalusian Government with the members of the technical-scientific working group, with whom it has begun to analyze the proposals for improvement of this Malaga area that could be carried out based on the budget of 4.6 million euros, Co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), which the Board plans to invest.
These first restorative actions to be carried out by Sustainable Development through the emergency route include, among other works, linear performances on highways and main roads whose purpose is to guarantee the transit of people and vehicles in safe conditions. Likewise, they also contemplate protection work against water erosion (fajinas, albarradas and small draft dikes) and silvicultural treatments in the wooded area affected by the fire.
The general director of Natural Environment, Biodiversity and Protected Spaces, Araceli Cabello, and the territorial delegate for Sustainable Development in Malaga, José Antonio Víquez, have participated today in Estepona in the second meeting of the technical-scientific committee of the Sierra Bermeja fire, whose The objective is to advise the Andalusian Government and formulate proposals regarding the environmental and economic recovery of an area of great value in the province of Malaga. In fact, the affected area includes more than 20 Habitats of Community Interest, three of them priority as is the case of the Spanish fir, an endangered species in the Andalusian Catalog of Threatened Species. The severity of the damage caused by the flames prompted his declaration as Area Seriously Affected by Civil Protection Emergencies (Zaepc).
After completing the assessment of the affected area, the technicians of the Sustainable Development Department have detected damage that requires “A priority and cannot be postponed action” due to the existence of a serious and imminent risk to the safety of people and property. For this reason, the first measures to be implemented are carried out on an emergency basis to try to minimize these situations and the erosive processes that rainfall could lead to; and, subsequently, the Andalusian Government will continue with actions classified as urgent to later move on to medium and long-term recovery measures that allow achieving a true sustainable development of the calcined area in Sierra Bermeja.
In addition to attending this work meeting, Araceli Cabello and José Antonio Víquez have also taken part in the second meeting of the Sierra Bermeja social participation forum, whose final objective is to involve the seven municipalities affected by the forest fire in the social dynamization -economic of the region. In this way, the Andalusian Government seeks to promote, even more if possible, the protection and sustainable development of the area.
Sierra Bermeja fire
The Sierra Bermeja forest fire It was declared on September 8, 2021 in the municipality of Genalguacil, specifically, in the Sierra Bermeja massif, located to the southwest of the province of Malaga. Due to the meteorological circumstances (changing wind, high temperatures and low relative humidity) and the terrain (steep orography and abundant vegetation), this fire acquired great virulence.
The flames were controlled on September 14 after arduous days of extinction work by a large number of professionals, machinery and aircraft; and it was finally possible to consider the fire extinguished on October 24.
Regarding the calcined surface, the flames affected lands of Jubrique, Júzcar, Faraján, Casares, Estepona, Genalguacil and Benahavís. In total, the fire covered 8,401 hectares, of which 7,664 correspond to forest areas (3,835 of trees and 3,828 of scrub) and 736 of pastures (631 hectares), agricultural (17 hectares), urban or similar (78 hectares) and of other type (9 hectares).