Firefighters from Pilar de la Horadada, Torrevieja and the forestry brigade of Guardamar were called to deal with a fire on Tuesday afternoon in the vicinity of the protected areas of Sierra Escalona on the property of La Balsa, close to the urbanisation El Galán and Eagles Nest, in San Miguel de Salinas.
The fire was noticed at about 2pm in an area of pine forest not accessible to vehicles, near the road linking San Miguel with Pilar de la Horadada (CV-941), across from Las Colinas Golf Club.
First on the scene were the firefighters carrying out a temporary summer deployment in Pilar de la Horadada. They were followed by vehicles from Torrevieja and members of the forestry brigade from Guardamar del Segura.
According to sources from the Provincial Consortium the fire burned about twenty pines over an area of about one thousand square meters. Initially an airborne unit had been alerted to assist with the incident, although it was not needed, being returned to its base when the fire was brought under control
The Department of the Environment in San Miguel highlighted the growing number of occasions where forest fires have broken out locally in the vicinity of residential urbanisations as a result of which they have appealed once again for the detachment of firefighters that is resident in Pilar de la Horadada during the summer months to be made permanent.
