The Governing Council of the Junta de Andalucia has approved ‘urgent’ restoration activities in the area affected by the recent forest fire in Málaga province and is requesting financial assistance from the European Catastrophe Fund, as happened earlier following fires on La Gomera and Valencia.
The fire began in Coín at 18:50 on Thursday August 30th and spread rapidly towatds Mijas, Marbella, Mijas, Ojén and Monda, destroying 8,225 hectares of land and dozens of buildings. One person lost their life in the blaze and a number were injured, two of them very seriously.
The ’emergency’ works will include building masonry dykes and wooden retaining walls to stop erosion on slopes if the autumn rains arrive and also repairs to drainage and water channels. The project will also include repairs to roads.
In parallel, an analysis will be made of the terrain and vegetation affected by the fire in order to design a restoration and erosion prevention plan to be implemented at a later date once the initial ’emergency’ works have been completed.
The reforestation plan, however, will not take place for at least a year according to the Department of Environment.