The Infoca and firefighters from Mijas and other municipalities are working to extinguish a fire that broke out at 04:15 hours this morning in Los Condes. So far 84 ground troops, two bricas, two heavy and one light helicopters, five fire engines, a medical unit, an operations technician, nine groups of forest firefighters, an environmental agent and the local police were deployed to this area of Valtocado. In addition to INFOCA's own resources, the Civil Guard, the Fire Brigade of Marbella, Mijas, Benalmádena and Fuengirola, the National Police and its unit attached to the Autonomous Community, the 061 Health Emergency Centre, the Red Cross, the Local Police, Civil Protection and the Andalusian Emergency Group (GREA) are also taking part in the operation.

The A-387 road, which links Alhaurín el Grande and Fuengirola, is closed to traffic in both directions between kilometres 0 and 9.5 as a result of the forest fire.  The Advanced Command Post (PMA) has been set up in a place very close to the Osunillas sports centre where the residents who have been evacuated are located. From the PMA all the actions of the operational services are coordinated jointly. The mayoress of Mijas, Ana Mata (PP), the councillor for Firefighters, Juan Carlos Cuevas (Vox), and members of the government team went there early this morning. The head of the Civil Protection service is also on site and the deputy director of Emergencies is travelling to the area together with the general director of Emergencies and Civil Protection.

The delegate of the Andalusian Government in Malaga, Patricia Navarro, activated at 7.44 a.m. today, Sunday, level 1 of the Emergency Plan for Forest Fires, a category given to fires whose possible evolution may involve the implementation of special measures for the protection of people and non-forest assets that may be threatened by fire, requiring the deployment of a civil protection device.

The fire, located in the Venta Los Condes area, has led to the preventive eviction of three hundred people from the houses closest to the fire. The residents of were moved to the area where the fire broke out, There, several people were assisted by the medical services of 061 and the Red Cross as they were affected by inhalation of smoke. The operatives continue to evacuate some houses and evacuate elderly people from the affected areas. In the last few hours there have also been preventive evictions of residents of Rincón del Hinojal, Lomas del Flamenco and the initial perimeter of Mijas Golf (northern part of Mijas Golf).  The rest of the residents of the latter area are advised to remain indoors due to the smoke in the area.

The delegate of the Government of the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga, Patricia Navarro, arrived at the command post after 11:00 hours. From there she gave a statement to the media to report on the situation. Navarro explained step by step how the events unfolded. The delegate emphasised that the primary objective was "the protection of the residents of Valtocado, where (at that moment) around 100 people had to be evacuated". She also regretted "the weather conditions, as they are not helping, mainly due to the strong wind that we have at the moment, which is making it difficult for the troops to act safely on the ground". In this sense, she explained that "these gusts at some peak times reach 60 km per hour, but at a sustained 30 km per hour, to which must be added the degree of humidity which is also above 30 percent and the very high temperatures, despite the fact that it is November". Navarro thanked the more than 190 people deployed in the area to control the situation and sent a message of " tranquillity because we are acting from very early in the morning precisely in these tasks of prevention and protection of the civilian population". She also sent "a message of caution to all residents and especially to all those who visit this city at weekends and to cyclists" who take advantage of the situation to cycle routes in this area.

For her part, the mayoress of Mijas, Ana Mata (PP), explained that the Town Hall is coordinating the evacuation plan: "we have attended to all those evacuated and there are some people who are in need of professional psychological help because they were quite worried". The Mijas mayor said that "we hope that throughout the day the fire can be controlled", although she clarified that if not "there are hotels that have contacted us to offer rooms if necessary for those who can not return home. Even so, Mata said that now "we have to go step by step" and in this sense she stressed that "coordination is fundamental and the Mijas Town Hall is here 100 percent precisely to attend to all the residents who are currently away from their homes to inform them when they can return or be by their side in case it cannot be today and has to be tomorrow".

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