Albufera fire, Mallorca

One of the properties affected by the fire.

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterAlcudia26/09/2020 11:56
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The fire in Albufera, which started shortly after 6pm on Friday evening, was one of the most serious to have occurred in the wetland area, where fires are not uncommon but which are typically only minor. Some 300 hectares of land were affected, while three properties were burned out and another two damaged. The residents of twenty properties had to be evacuated. The wind on Friday night was fierce, and the fire spread out of control for a time, with flames visible from Alcudia and elsewhere on the bay of Alcudia.

Emergency Services, Albufera, Majorca.

On Saturday morning at the Ses Cases de Son Sant Martí command post near to Albufera, the director-general of the environment ministry's Ibanat agency, Joan Ramón Villalonga, explained that the fire had two fronts - one of which had been advancing towards the treatment plant and so on in the direction of the Muro-Can Picafort road. The more serious front was by the Camí S'Amarador; this was threatening parts of the nature park itself.

Albufera fire, Majorca.

The risk level was upgraded to two at half nine on Friday evening but then downgraded to one by ten o'clock on Saturday morning, with planes and helicopters joining an operation involving over forty firefighters on the ground. With two planes already being used, a third was sent from Ibiza.

The mayors of Sa Pobla and Muro, Llorenç Gelabert and Antoni Serra, were at the scene on Friday night. Early on Saturday morning, the environment minister, Miquel Mir, and the minister for public administration, Isabel Castro, went to the command post; Castro's ministry includes the Balearic emergencies directorate. President Armengol sent a Twitter message of support for the great efforts being made by firefighters.

Albufera fire, Majorca.