Forest fire in Sóller – 34 evacuated UPDATE

Fire broke out in the the Béns d’Avall urbanisation in the night of Sunday 7 April, destroying pine and olive groves.

The first forest fire of the season in Mallorca forced the evacuation of 34 people in Sóller.

Residents sounded the alarm at 12:30 am on Saturday, having noticed the fire in the residential area near the road junction between Sóller and Deià.

Residents evacuated

34 people were evacuated and lodged in a hotel in Sóller.

It took almost twelve hours to bring the fire under control due to high temperatures, low humidity and strong gusts of wind.

There were no injuries and the houses were largely unscathed, although without water or electricity supplies.

The all-clear was given the next morning. Some people decided to return to their homes to check for damage and collect some personal belongings.

Utilities disconnected – without water or electricity

They then went back to the hotel in Soller, awaiting the reconnection of utilities.

The Department of Agriculture said residents would hopefully be able to return to their homes definitively later on Monday 8 April.

The risk season is usually from 1 May to 15 October, when it is forbidden to light fires on or within 50 m of forest land. The Ibanat forestry authority brought the date forward to April 1 in Ibiza and Formentera this year due to climactic conditions.

UPDATE:

Poorly extinguished deliberate fire

The Guardia Civil’s official investigation is still open, but the evidence seems to indicate to ‘90 per cent’ that the fire was caused by a poorly extinguished deliberate burning of forest deadwood, which would imply gross negligence.

Environmental agents carried out a careful visual inspection of the area throughout Sunday afternoon and Monday.

The hypothesis is that embers from these fires were not properly extinguished.

The embers then remained dormant until the early hours of Sunday morning, when they were probably revived by the strong wind.