400 People Evacuated From Forest Fire In Southern Spain

Around 400 people have been evacuated after a huge forest fire broke out next to a town in southern Spain.

The fire started near the town of Manilva in the southern Spanish province of Malaga and residents of the nearby Princesa Cristina residential area were also evacuated.

Those evacuated were sent to a local sports centre to spend the night.

The fire reportedly began early in the morning and spread to the mountains around the town of Manilva.

Forty firefighters arrived to tackle the blaze as local residents fled, and Mark Cortes, a Gibraltarian whose car can be seen driving away from the house he owns in Manilva, told reporters: “Obviously, I was very worried. I had my children with as well me in the house so my priority was just to get out really.

“Just get whatever we could on and get my passport and just leave as soon as I could. Cause there was the risk that with the smoke, they could close the roads and trap you in.”

Over 150 calls were reportedly made to Spanish emergency services as the fire threatened the town.

Firefighters reportedly managed to control the blaze after one day and residents have now returned to the town, finding ash all around and some destroyed belongings.

Local media report the fire could have been started by fireworks. Firefighters have continued spraying the area with water in order to prevent
further fires breaking out.

Mario Jimenez, the mayor of Manilva, told local media that the flames had spread due to strong winds and high temperatures.

He said: “The ingredients were very dangerous. That is why we focused on evacuating people who could be directly affected.

“Our main goal was to avoid personal damage and that is the important thing, that there were no injured people. The cause of the fire is still unknown, and workers are trying to find it out, but in general we can say that not lot of material damage has been reported in homes.”

There have been no reports of injuries in the incident.