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Date Published: 06/03/2024

Torrevieja scorched by second fire in a week

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The towering flames were visible from all over the Orihuela Costa

Torrevieja scorched by second fire in a week

Residents of the Alicante city of Torrevieja were startled awake in the early hours of Wednesday morning, March 6, by a frightening fire that took hold in a palm tree nursery located next to the AP-7 motorway. For the second time in a few days, the densely populated areas of La Coronelita and Los Balcones were right beside a threatening inferno.

The blaze engulfed the young saplings in minutes and emergency responders from the Provincial Consortium and the forest firefighters of the Generalitat raced to the scene shortly after midnight to bring the fire under control.

So fierce were the flames that reinforcements had to be called in from the Almoradí and Torrevieja parks, including 11 firefighters and three firefighting vehicles. It was finally brought under control at around one in the morning but the trees were still smouldering several hours later.

The flames reached the top of the palm trees, “a considerable height”, according to official sources, and they were clearly visible for several kilometres along the Orihuela Costa.

It’s been a terrible and devastating week in southern Spain; this is the fifth blaze in less than a fortnight. In Torrevieja and just a stone’s throw away from Wednesday’s incident, 12 cars which were illegally parked in scrubland were completely scorched a few days ago.

Both incidents happened so close together that when reports of the latest Torrevieja fire hit the headlines, many people on social media believed it must be a mistake.

Last week, a devastating blaze in Valencia claimed 10 lives and left many others injured, and on Monday March 4, a fire broke out on the ground floor of a seven-storey building in the Murcia municipality of Molina de Segura, leaving nine people hospitalised, including three children.

Finally, also on March 4, a grandmother, her son and grandson died when their apartment in VillaJoyosa caught fire due to a faulty electrical socket.

In other news: Serious food safety concerns in Spain after Hepatitis A found in Moroccan strawberries

Images: MeteOrihuela/La Zenia Facebook group

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