German resident fights off forest fire in Cala Llamp

A little before two o'clock in the afternoon, she had received a mobile telephone call from a friend who warned that there was a fire raging very close to her property called sa Nostra Caseta in the municipality of Andratx.

The resident in question had not been on the premises at the time she received the alert but indeed, no sooner had she returned to the house than smoke was sweeping over the area and flames had reached the access drive.

Without a second thought, the German lady seized a garden hose and began to douse the grounds around the house, dampening it sufficiently so that the flames wouldn't be able to sweep across the premises and threaten her dogs which she kept in a pound at the rear.

To the rescue
It was only a short while before the Local Police from Andratx were on the scene. They manhandled bucket loads of water in relay., keeping the flames at bay until the arrival of a fire fighting helicopter which made a dozen or so low passes over the centre of the fire, discharging water from its huge low swung, refillable bucket.

Eventually, the Majorcan Fire Service and technicians from the Balearic Nature Protection Institute “Ibanat” were able to extinguish the final persistent flames, but the Emergency Services acknowledged that initial thanks needed to go to the resident, Julia.

Sources investigating the origin of the fire said that it could have been sparked by an agricultural blaze which got out of hand.
Farmers periodically set up controlled fires on harvested land to burn the stubble but on this occasion, precautions hadn't taken into account particularly strong wind currents which had been forecast by the National Weather Agency (AEMET) yesterday.

Visitors and residents in the Balearics are reminded that no barbeques are permitted in forested areas during the summer months. Care must be taken with cigarette ends.