High-risk season ends with relatively few fires reported

THE highest-risk season for forest fires officially ends in Malaga Province on Thursday, October 15 and in spite of intense heat it appears to have been the best year since 2010.

Between January 1 and October 11, the province had lost 333 hectares of ground to fires, the lowest figure since 2010 and well under the last decade’s average of 1,500 per year.

Although the hot, dry conditions as summer arrived seemed likely to make it a bad season, and Infoca forest firefighting and prevention service had almost 600 workers ready to act, they reported a relatively calm summer.

Mijas was one of the main hotspots within the province, Infoca reported, while the worst blaze of the summer which broke out in Pizarra on June 24, was fought by almost 100 firefighters and affected 94 hectares.

As of Thursday, Infoca staff will begin combining firefighting duties with prevention work to begin to prepare for next summer.