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Costa Blanca expats flee as huge wildfires destroy homes
| Published: | 6 Sep at 6 PM |
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Hundreds of expats and tourists were evacuated from their Costa Blanca homes and hotels as massive wildfires consumed mountain slopes and spread towards residential areas.
The popular Costa Blanca resort town of Javea, home to a large expat community as well as being a hub for summer tourists, is in chaos this morning and fires are still burning in the hills. Police believe the blaze was started deliberately at three spots in the hills above the town, leading to hundreds of residents and visitors being evacuated.
Around 15 residential estates were badly affected, with around two dozen homes known to have been completely destroyed. Police, civilian firefighters and the army are still attempting to control the flames, and evacuation centres for over a thousand people are now set up in safe areas of the town.
One British national told local media she and her husband had been heading to a restaurant for supper when the fires reached a nearby area. She said the response of residents in the town was nothing short of amazing, with people offering assistance in evacuating pets and providing beds for those displaced by the flames.
According to another expat, fires are now spreading through tinder-dry pine forests in an area of natural beauty, with firefighters attacking the new outbreaks on multiple fronts. Helicopters and planes brought in from other Spanish regions are dropping gallons of water but the windy, hot weather isn’t helping their efforts. Two housing estates, Canasaladas and Villas de Vente, are the worst affected as regards the loss of homes, and explosions caused by cooking gas bottles igniting are still being heard.
The unusually hot, windy weather covering Southern Europe is also causing blazes in Portugal and France, although few incidents of arson have been reported as yet. A series of deadly outbreaks in Portugal’s Algarve region lat month were the worst in living memory, causing a number of deaths and widespread environmental destruction. The holiday island of Madeira was one of the worst hit by the fires.
At the same time, multiple blazes close to the French port town of Marseilles devastated the countryside and threatened to spread as far as the edge of the city with its industrial oil and petrochemical storage facilities. Firefighters struggled for control against powerfully gusting winds and extreme heat, and many homes were destroyed. Subsequently, two arrests were made by police, citing arson.
The popular Costa Blanca resort town of Javea, home to a large expat community as well as being a hub for summer tourists, is in chaos this morning and fires are still burning in the hills. Police believe the blaze was started deliberately at three spots in the hills above the town, leading to hundreds of residents and visitors being evacuated.
Around 15 residential estates were badly affected, with around two dozen homes known to have been completely destroyed. Police, civilian firefighters and the army are still attempting to control the flames, and evacuation centres for over a thousand people are now set up in safe areas of the town.
One British national told local media she and her husband had been heading to a restaurant for supper when the fires reached a nearby area. She said the response of residents in the town was nothing short of amazing, with people offering assistance in evacuating pets and providing beds for those displaced by the flames.
According to another expat, fires are now spreading through tinder-dry pine forests in an area of natural beauty, with firefighters attacking the new outbreaks on multiple fronts. Helicopters and planes brought in from other Spanish regions are dropping gallons of water but the windy, hot weather isn’t helping their efforts. Two housing estates, Canasaladas and Villas de Vente, are the worst affected as regards the loss of homes, and explosions caused by cooking gas bottles igniting are still being heard.
The unusually hot, windy weather covering Southern Europe is also causing blazes in Portugal and France, although few incidents of arson have been reported as yet. A series of deadly outbreaks in Portugal’s Algarve region lat month were the worst in living memory, causing a number of deaths and widespread environmental destruction. The holiday island of Madeira was one of the worst hit by the fires.
At the same time, multiple blazes close to the French port town of Marseilles devastated the countryside and threatened to spread as far as the edge of the city with its industrial oil and petrochemical storage facilities. Firefighters struggled for control against powerfully gusting winds and extreme heat, and many homes were destroyed. Subsequently, two arrests were made by police, citing arson.
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