150 people evacuated from path of forest fire

Over 150 people had to be evacuated from 60 houses as a forest fire raged through Calvia yesterday and the local government believes they are dealing with yet another arson attack. While many had been allowed to return home at the time of going to press, the fire was still raging, but fire fighters were confident of bringing it under control before midnight, although fire fighters will still be on guard and on patrol in the area this morning. The alarm was raised at 12.30 in the Son Font area of Calvia, but the fire started moving quickly towards the village of Calvia. Three helicopters, three “hydroplanes” and two of the huge Canadair fire fighting planes flew immediately in to the area and started dousing the flames in a bid to prevent the fire from reaching the village. On the ground over 200 people from the Palma and Insular Council fire brigades, Calvia Civil Protection unit, the Local Police, Guardia Civil and the forestry protection unit IBANAT battled the blaze with extra support from an army of volunteers.