Late in the afternoon on Wednesday the 8th a fire broke out in Sierra Bermeja. At 3.24 am the following day, the Andalusian Government declared it level 1 and 400 people were evicted.

One week later, the figures speak for themselves of what has happened: 9,760 hectares burnt, 2,600 evictions, 1 firefighter dead, 51 air planes and helicopters and more than 1,000 agents deployed; Among them, 6 firefighters from Mijas, who arrived at the area together with 16 volunteers from the local Civil Protection and 11 members of the Mijas Red Cross.

The fire, classified as sixth generation and category E, that is, the maximum level of severity, was controlled at 6:45 am on Tuesday 14th thanks to the rain and the work of the extinguishing device deployed by the Infoca Plan and reinforced by the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and members of other autonomous communities and the central government. Mijas Firefighters, Civil Protection and the Local Assembly of the Red Cross participated in the extinction work and help to the evicted since Sunday 12th, when the flames had already devoured more than 6,000 hectares of land and had forced the eviction of six municipalities: Jubrique , Genalguacil, Alpandeire, Júzcar, Faraján and Pujerra.

However, according to the mayor, Josele González (PSOE), from the early hours of Thursday the 9th the collaboration of the Local Council was offered to the Provincial Firefighters Consortium and to the 112 Emergency Service “but incomprehensibly”, he said until Sunday they did not call for the “activation” of the agents.
Mijas’ participation in the fire took place during the worst days of the disaster.

After having to regret on Thursday the 9th the death of a firefighter and starting on Friday the 10th to speak of a sixth generation fire capable of generating another fire of its own and forcing the ground troops to retreat, on Saturday the 11th hope arrived at dusk with part of the perimeter controlled.

However, a ‘pavesa’ (an incandescent particle that comes off a burning body) caused a new fire in the area in the early morning of Sunday 12th, the day that the troops from Mijas and the UME arrived and the Infoca spoke of the “virulent behaviour of the fire”.  “Our firefighters were eager to collaborate, help, participate”, said the mayor, who also highlighted the work of Civil Protection and the Red Cross.

After controlling the fire on Tuesday 14th, the origin of which is still being investigated, the Mijas firefighters returned home in the morning and the members of Civil Protection in the afternoon, carrying out extinction tasks since then. On the night of Thursday 16th, on sending this edition to press, “final liquidation” work was carried out with 50 forest firefighters, two environmental agents and four fire trucks, and Infoca continued to consider the fire “controlled”.

Mijas agents analyse their work fighting the fire

Because it hurts the same if it is the Sierra de Mijas or Sierra Bermeja, Mijas Firefighters did not hesitate to participate in the tasks of extinguishing this fire. The mayor of Mijas, Josele González (PSOE), thanked them on Wednesday 15th for the work they have done in the extinction tasks. “I want to thank you for your predisposition from minute one in the tasks you have carried out during the fire, perhaps one of the worst we have suffered in recent years in Andalusia, in which our firefighters have shown courage and highly commented professionalism, even by the rest of the fire stations in the area and the leaders who have managed the entire device”, said the mayor, who stressed that the Mijas firefighters are not lacking in knowledge in the matter, since “if they have something, it is experience in this type of forest fires ... They also contributed in the fact that they had the right vehicle to transport the troops to the most dangerous points or where they could be more effective”. That is why the Mijas troops, González pointed out, have been in the “front line of fire” since they were activated on Sunday, although, he stressed, they showed their willingness to intervene from the beginning in Sierra Bermeja, where they remained until Tuesday 14th as well as Civil Protection, whose work and that of the Red Cross was also highlighted by the mayor. “The agents have carried out both defensive tasks, protecting the municipalities that they assigned us under threat from a precise front, as well as offensive work; then, thanks to the vehicle and the means that we were carrying, we began to attack, to directly fight a flank”, explained the coordinator of the Fire Fighting Service, Francisco Manuel Mérida.

Lines of work to follow
“We will have a series of meetings to see what actions we can carry out at a preventive level such as communication and training campaigns to prevent something similar”, added Mérida. Since, with the action in Sierra Bermeja “we have gathered experience to work much better in future possible fires in Mijas. Ultimately, it is all about establishing fluid communication with them to work hand in hand”, added González. They will also meet with other municipal areas involved such as the Environment and Civil Protection and will launch citizen awareness campaigns that highlight what can be lost in such a catastrophe.

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