Huge pall of smoke

[tjtops]

Back to the animal shelter.....brain suddenly jolted itself into life..surely that's AAA (we used to call it Triple A)???? I knew of them when I lived there so could well be genuine.....

[oliveview01]

I did manage to find a website for the address, then lost it and can´t find how I got it!

[gerryh]

No it's not Triple A.
Here is a link to their website and they are safe.
http://www.tripleamarbella.org/eng/noti ... r.php?id=6
Cheers
Gerry

[tjtops]

Ah....thanks Gerry..thought you would know! Many many horses have been burned to death too....I was told last night of some people having left theirs in their stables when they fled, and returning to find them badly burned but still alive......can't imagine anything more awful. Apparently local vets have been going round putting them down....

[country boy]

Any update on the fire please? The BBC appears to have stopped updating.

It is very murky in the valley this morning so we cannot see much. The Fire Planes are up and about again, there were considerable fire pockets still burning on the mountains when we retired at midnight last night. That's the best I can offer..sorry.

[Lavanda]

Terrible! We've made an escape plan in case of the unthinkable and it's life before any other consideration — my OH, me, the dog and the hens. I could never leave the dog under any circumstances but I appreciate the horse owners might have had problems with evacuation.

[gruff]

Thanks Country Boy.

[country boy]

They just announced on the local 10 AM news that the fires are now under control.

[casaalba]

News here seems a little sketchy as to what areas have been affected. Does anyone know if Monda and the surrounding area in Alpujatta has been affected? TV focusing mainly on Ojen.
OH just noted that since the outbreak air fares to Malaga have rocketed-imagined cashing in on folks misery!!!

Moved from another thread. Sid

[olive]

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/08/31/ine ... 93926.html

have a look on the other thread about the fire.

Moved from another thread. Sid

[barry]

That link does not work?

[El Cid]

It does now.

Sid

[KarenD]

There's a big riding stables in Mijas called Rancho la Paz and they have a large number of horses. Does anyone have any news about them?

[katy]

A video here of a family's house in ruins. I think the latter part of the video is Calahonda.

http://www.diariosur.es/videos/malaga/a ... lojos.html

I often gave it some thought after we saw a large fire over Ojén a few years ago. I bought 2 large fireproof bank boxes. One for important documents and the other for old photos. The cat boxes were always handy too. Seems to have ravaged the area around the refugio de Juanar too, the place I recommended in another thread as having stunning scenery

[crazyred]

Aristochat are not just asking for donations of money, link to the FB event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/158948547562662/

For up to date information on what help is needed where and the current situation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/312338028864557/

[Devils Advocate]

Total Nightmare.....just hope there's some help at hand to help the place recover from this..........if it were some far away 3rd world country the EU would be falling over themselves to offer aid.

[anis]

We go walking a lot - rambling - roughly where it began on Friday, it is very pretty, lots of fir and pines, or there was what a terrible waste of life.

[katy]

Aristochat are not just asking for donations of money, link to the FB event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/158948547562662/

For up to date information on what help is needed where and the current situation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/312338028864557/

Does seem a valid org. if PAD and SOS are involved. I know one or two on that link. Good to see people rallying round.

[wildside]

I would like to make some comments about this fire from a biologists point of view... (Mine)... I suppose they may cause some controversy....

This fire comes at absolutely no surprise to me... It has been waiting to happen for years... the remarks from Griñan today in the press about it being arson just made me feel even angrier about what has happened.... yes you can blame the arsonist(s) if you like but where does the real blame lay?

The fire fighters are exceptional without any doubt at all but their work to control a blaze like this is virtually impossible... Firefighter friends of mine were there yesterday and they came back exhausted but proud that they did what they could... They are in agreement with my thoughts about this subject....

Fact, the pine forests around this area are not endemic... They were planted by people and should have been maintained by people.... In the last 10 years there has been virtually no maintenance of the baranco blanco area... No firebreaks, no scrub clearing... same at juanar and la concha, same behind elviria and el rosario and mijas... You cannot plant a pine forest as a crop and then abandon it.... Or "protect it" and say it is a "natural park".... At some point it will burn... That is the nature of pine forest and it always has been.... From ojen across to istan all you have to do is drive the dirt track and it is obvious what is going to happen at some point in the future... (and has happened in the past).. Some of the forests weren't planted for crops they were put there to stabilize the land, to stop mudslides like the one that happened in Malaga a hundred years ago or more... But you still need to maintain the forest... Like a garden it needs tending, not planting and abandoning....

Cork..... Why does a cork tree have bark like this?... To protect it from forest fire... It is a tree that has evolved over a very long time alongside forest fires.... They are a natural part of the life cycle of a forest...

Billions of euros have been spent on new projects large and small in natural parks and various other areas but virtually nothing on the maintenance of what already exists..... What a total waste...

I worked for many years on the coast on various urbanizations and it always astounded me at the lack of forethought with regards to prunings from gardens just dumped onto neighboring empty land.... Palm tree leaves being the worst culprit.... Incredibly flammable... And the quantity of this material is amazing... These dumps obviously help the spread of a fire when it reaches an urbanization.. I witnessed it myself first hand when mijas mountain burned some years ago....

So yes, the authorities can look for the "arsonist" if they like but i put the real blame on selfish homeowners and landowners who can't think about the consequences of their nice tidy garden or "wilderness" finca. This and a land management system by local authorities that lacks any kind of logic and is virtually non existent....

This has happened and now something needs to be learned from the experience to avoid it happening again..... I wonder if people will ever learn.....

[Devils Advocate]

yes you can blame the arsonist(s) if you like but where does the real blame lay?

Bit too early to speculate and point fingers I reckon............plus I don't know enough about the subject to comment even when the dust has settled.

However in answer to your above question, if indeed it was an arsonist then the real blame lies with the arsonist

So are all the pine trees in and around the National park in say, Frigliana/Competa/acebucal/Canillas all really planted by the council, when were they planted do you reckon?

In all fairness the firebreaks do look wide and clean in that area................but I've seen a local fire there and there's not much in the world that can stop it................it's a hot and dry country like Greece,USA and Australia and very sadly these things happen.