According to the balance of the INFOCA plan released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, forest fires have devastated in Andalusia this year a total of 12,730 hectares, of which 8,401 according to the definitive measurement, were burned in the Sierra Bermeja fire, which is equivalent to 60% of the entire affected area in the community.
Andalusia’s firefighting plan carried out a total of 711 interventions in forest areas. Specifically, the emergencies registered between January 1 and October 31, 2021 amount to 581 (almost 75%) in the case of outbreaks, that is, fires that affect less than one hectare of burned surface, and 190 ( 25%) attending to fires. As to affected vegetation, 60% corresponds to scrubland, and the rest to trees.
Sierra Bermeja
The Sierra Bermeja fire, which concentrates 92.5% of the extension burned in the province of Malaga and the 60% of all hectares burned in Andalusia so far this year, it has marked the 2021 campaign. The hard work of the professionals of the Infoca device made it possible for this incident, declared on September 8 in the municipality of Jubrique, could be controlled on September 14. After the actions of auction and liquidation of hot spots, the fire was finally extinct on October 24.
The flames also affected lands in Júzcar, Faraján, Casares, Estepona, Genalguacil and Benahavís. In total, the fire ran 8,401 hectares, of which 7,664 correspond to areas forestry (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 another type (9 hectares).
During the fire, which reached the level 2 emergency, it was necessary to evacuate 2,670 people for prevention and, unfortunately, the forest firefighter Carlos Martinez Haro He died on September 9 in an act of service while participating in the work to extinguish the flames.
In the extinction of the Sierra Bermeja fire, intervention teams from the eight Andalusian provinces participated, as well as media from the State and from other autonomous communities.