21/07/2012 00:00
TW
0

Palma.—But, that did not ease the pressure on the fire services because the damage had already been done on Wednesday afternoon when five fires, all within 15 minutes of each other broke out in Lluchmajor. However, by early yesterday afternoon, the Ibanat forestry commission reported that the four blazes at Son Veri and the Lluchmajor race track were out along with the fires in sa Pobla and Algaida.

The race track fire was put out just after 11pm on Wednesday night amidst fears of the fuel and gas deposits at the track catching fire.
Fortunately, that was avoided although substantial damage was done to the race track and some of the vehicles. The Son Granada fire, one of the Luchmajor blazes, and the fire in Son Caliu which broke out on Monday, were said to have been under control and were expected to be extinguished within a matter of hours.

Throughout the day, teams of fire fighters, who have battled a total of eleven fires since the beginning of the week, remained at the scene of most of the fires making sure they were either totally extinguished or need more dampening down in order to prevent the fires from reigniting. And, today, Majorca is on level one alert for high temperatures so the forest fire services are going to get little rest as they will remain on full alert with temperatures forecast to reach 34ºC in and around Palma and 36ºC in Sa Pobla.

The emergency services yesterday called on the general public to be extremely careful if out and about in wood and scrub land over the coming weeks with temperatures expected to remain high and to report any suspicious activities.

Hard line
The environmental group GOB yesterday called on the public prosecution service to throw the book at anyone found guilty of starting forest fires.
GOB wants a full investigation into this week's spate of fires but also wants the maximum sentence of five years handed down to all guilty arsonists.
The organisation also wants the Balearic government to press charges against the two alleged arsonists arrested in connection with the Lluchmajor fires.