The Mayor of Mijas, Josele González (PSOE), the First Deputy Mayor, José Carlos Martín (Cs), the Councillor for the Environment, Arancha López (Cs), and the spokespeople of all the political groups and the non-attached Councillors held a meeting last Thursday 11th, August, with the Delegate for the Environment, José Antonio Víquez. Also in attendance were the head of the Environmental Department, an Infoca technician, the Mijas Fire Brigade commanders who participated in the fire, and the Town Council's Environmental Technicians.

"We have called this meeting to analyse in-depth the consequences of the terrible fire that affected Mijas last July, and the lines of action to be taken after it was extinguished. The Mijas Town Hall is going to collaborate with the Junta de Andalucía and the affected municipalities so that the Sierra de Mijas recovers its image as soon as possible," says the Mijas Councillor. He has expressed the need "to increase the tasks of prevention and maintenance in the Sierra de Mijas as it is the Junta de Andalucía's responsability. It is extremely important to shorten the time taken to consolidate the soil affected by the fire, not only to start reforestation and repopulation work as soon as possible but also to secure the burnt area when the rains come and can cause further erosion in the area".

During the meeting, an exhaustive analysis and chronology of the fire in the El Higuerón area of Mijas, was carried out. The Mijas Fire Brigade stated, "in the meeting, we have made a calm analysis of the before, during, and after in the Sierra de Mijas' fire. This meeting has been productive as together we have established a road map to implement reforestation and future preventive measures", adds the First Deputy Mayor, José Carlos Martín.

Among these actions, the Consistory has presented the delegate with the need to increase the tasks aimed at thinning and enhancing the tree mass. It has also been agreed that all the actions carried out by the Town Council will follow technical criteria and the assessments made by Infoca. This work will be reinforced in the coming months with awareness campaigns, especially in scattered areas stressing the need for safety perimeters.

The Sierra de Mijas fire broke out on 15th July and quickly spread to the neighbouring municipalities of Alhaurín el Grande and Alhaurín de la Torre. The flames burned almost 2,000 hectares, and more than 3,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure. After 20 active days, the fire was considered extinguished on 3rd August.

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