Andalusian wildfires decreasing

Forest fires, the scourge of any Summer in the province of Malaga, have been on the decline in recent years, thanks in no small part to public awareness campaigns and massive investment in firefighting teams and alert systems, such as INFOCA. 

‘The occurrence of these wildfires in Andalusia as a whole is down 20% compared to 10 years ago’, said the Andalusian regional president, Juanma Moreno, during his recent visit to Mijas and the mountain area seriously affected by an enormous wildfire two years ago that decimated forest on the Sierra de Mijas and even more on the Alhaurín el Grande (Moreno’s hometown) side. Moreno pointed out there have been a total so far this year of 372 fire extinction actions compared to a yearly average over the last 10 years of 500.

‘Complex and arduous recovery work’ in Mijas mountains

He recalled that the 2022 fire affected almost 2,000 hectares of Mijas, Alhaurín de la Torre and Alhaurín el Grande, but currently, thanks to what he called ‘complex and arduous recovery work,’ the mountain is ready to be reforested.

As well as highlighting the amount of public money that has already been spent on the clean up of the Sierra de Mijas fire, Moreno also stressed the need for further investment in mountain range including containment dams to prevent flooding from torrential rain storms, the clearing of dead wood, and the regeneration of lost forest areas. He called on all residents in the area to remain vigilant, prudent and above all responsible given the risk of wildfires in the area.