Mason Jones (Reporter)
A FOREST fire is spreading rapidly on the mountain of La Morama near Canillas de Aceituno, Axarquia.
Five helicopters and a plane are currently trying to extinguish the blaze which has continued to spread throughout the day, with eyewitnesses claiming at least one building has been destroyed.
Expat Ben Sibree-Paul, 38, from Sheffield who spotted the fire, told the Olive Press on Friday afternoon: “I am a long way away, and the fire seems bigger again.
It has moved uphill incredibly fast but the trees are sparser higher up and it might have moved around a kilometre. There are no more buildings in the path that I can see.”
Spain is currently facing its worst wildfires in a decade, with more than three times as much forest being destroyed so far this year than in the whole of 2011.
Around 50,000 hectares of land were torched in the first five months of 2012, according to the Environment Ministry.
We’ve just been watching this fire and saw first hand the skill and bravery required of the pilots of the planes and helicopters battling the huge fires.
They have to approach as near as possible and sometimes there seems hardly enough clearance for them from the mountainside.
A vast area has been torched, a disaster for the beauty of the area and its wildlife.
I think there is another fire too between Algarrobo and Sayalonga …. we’ve been watching the fire near La Maroma and a helicopter was coming our way (Sayalonga). Then I could hear sirens so assume it was the bomberos. I’ve called neighbours and no one knows where exactly it is/was. All quiet now.