# Fire!



## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

It's a timely reminder I guess, for the last day or so we have been watching a fire progress in the mountains over in the distance. The fire crews are having huge problems controlling it, and at 10 last night it seemed well out of control as the helicopters stopped flying.

I'm guessing it must have done huge damage and is still going now .... yesterday we heard that 40+ homes had been evacuated, and the skies were dark with smoke. Ash all over our terraces and in the pool.

I've heard stories (and it's been on the news from time to time) about people related to the fire crews actually starting these fires on purpose so that the fire crews can get overtime!


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## TheHendersons (Feb 22, 2011)

I've not seen a thing on the UK news about this which area are you in?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

TheHendersons said:


> I've not seen a thing on the UK news about this which area are you in?



I'm not sure why it would be on the UK news ... they are only interested in failed expat stories 

The fire is near Alfauir which is a short distance from Gandia, Northern Costa Blanca. Fires in the Summer are not unusual I'm afraid as the countryside gets tinder dry .... this is the first one for us though this year


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## lynn (Sep 25, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> I'm not sure why it would be on the UK news ... they are only interested in failed expat stories
> 
> The fire is near Alfauir which is a short distance from Gandia, Northern Costa Blanca. Fires in the Summer are not unusual I'm afraid as the countryside gets tinder dry .... this is the first one for us though this year


It is very early in the season for fires! Have you been having the really strong winds too? Round here, the fires are often started on purpose, and on days with strong winds so that they spread quicker.... It is horrifying that people can be so evil.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

No, we had strong winds a few weeks ago, but it's fairly calm at the moment. I'm surprised not many people commented on this though, its a really important issue in Spain in the Summer months


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## andmac (Nov 9, 2010)

We had a big fire up here about a month ago. We could see it quite clearly. They ended up evacuating about 400 people from a campsite. The fire was contained in the end, but it took all night.

The wetland area which burned is now mostly green again!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Stravinsky said:


> No, we had strong winds a few weeks ago, but it's fairly calm at the moment. I'm surprised not many people commented on this though, its a really important issue in Spain in the Summer months


I was going to write something yesterday but I copped a virus on my laptop and had to spend the whole morning sorting it out!

I find the idea of firemen starting fires to get work hard to believe. (a) surely they get paid whether they work or not, and (b) lots of them have been killed! Six in one week alone last year!

Nevertheless it is estimated that 80% of fires in the Mediterranean reason are caused by humans, deliberately or accidentally. A British man was jailed for accidentally burning down 5,000 acres of forest in the Sierra Nevada:

"A retired housing boss who sparked a massive forest fire in Spain has been sentenced to 18 months in prison – and ordered to pay €10 million in compensation. Michael Hanks, 66, former chief executive of Islington & Shoreditch Housing Association, started a small fire as a beacon to alert rescuers after he and his girlfriend got lost in a national park."
Briton Jailed and Fined ?10m for Starting Forest Fire | Daily news from Spain


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> "A retired housing boss who sparked a massive forest fire in Spain has been sentenced to 18 months in prison – and ordered to pay €10 million in compensation. Michael Hanks, 66, former chief executive of Islington & Shoreditch Housing Association, started a small fire as a beacon to alert rescuers after he and his girlfriend got lost in a national park."


Did he pay the fine by credit card? 

I hope he is out of the country and didn't pay. Six years to bring this to a conclusion must be a breach of his human rights 

:focus:


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

We have an arsonist in our village, up until last year the authorities kept on letting him out of where ever they kept putting him and off he would go and set fire to the countryside. The last time he set fire to a patch of brush which flared up and set a whole hillside alight, trouble was on top of the hill was a house with a family in it. The police arrested him for his own safety seeing as the locals were going to string him up, they had, had enough of his illness as it had been described.


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