NEARLY a hundred firefighters worked overnight to save a protected nature reserve from a raging forest fire on the Costa del Sol.
Residents near Nerja were left without electricity as the fast-moving blaze roared through the Sierras of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama natural park shortly after 7pm on Tuesday, damaging power lines that served nearby communities.
Andalucian firefighting service Infoca quickly dispatched 76 firefighters and eight aircraft to the area in Malaga province, with responders finally setting up a perimeter around the blaze shortly after 9.30pm.
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Investigators are working to determine what sparked the wildfire, with early reports suggesting it may have been caused by a downed power line near the local tip.
The Nerja town hall has cleared dry vegetation from a 10-km stretch of the area’s main road in a bid to remove forest fuel and stop the fire from spreading further.
Although the blaze has been brought under control, firefighters remain at work to extinguish what is left of the flames inside the affected area, Infoca has said.
The Sierras natural park spans 400 square kilometres across the provinces of Malaga and Granada.
It is home to lush pine forests and rare animal species, including golden eagles, peregrine falcons, and Iberian ibexes.
The latter is a species of wild goat that nearly went extinct around 100 years ago but has since bounced back, with the park now home to its largest population in the world.
Spain declared the park a protected area in 1999, while the European Commission recognised it as a Site of Community Importance in 2006.
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