More than 15 firefighters were deployed on Thursday evening to fight a fire that had broken out in a Chinese bazaar located next to the Zenia Boulevard shopping centre on the Orihuela Costa.
Although the cause is still not known it is understood that the fire broke out on the roof of the “Oriental Market”, and quickly threatened to spread to the adjacent building, which accommodates a number of expat property businesses, bars and restaurants. Fortunately it was only the thick plumes of smoke that swirled across although, as a matter of safety, it was necessary to evacuate many of the bars.
A total of 8 fire tenders attended the scene from the stations at Orihuela, Torrevieja and Almoradí, as well as several patrols of the Local Police and the Civil Guard who were mainly responsible for securing the area and evacuating members of the public. It is understood that the first fire tenders on the scene took approximately 30 minutes to arrive.
According to sources from the Provincial Fire Brigade, there were several card and chipboard boxes full of polyester on the roof of the building which could have been the reason for the fire although at this stage the investigations are still ongoing.
Fortunately there were no injuries to members of the public although a large quantity of shop stock was destroyed during the fire. The fire was brought under control within an hour and a half although firefighters remained on the scene for most of the night.
The smoke was visible several kilometres away.
