Large wildfire burns homes at Javea, Spain

A large wildfire on Spain’s Mediterranean coast has destroyed structures and forced 1,000 residents and holiday makers to evacuate.

The fire started Sunday in the Javea area, a popular tourist resort at Costa Blanca and was attacked by 300 firefighters and 20 water-dropping aircraft. They had the fire temporarily knocked down, but after sunset when the aircraft were grounded it picked up again. The fire was still active Monday morning.

According to the The Telegraph, the fire was started deliberately in three spots between Javea and Benitachell and has burned approximately 20 homes. The army has been called in to assist firefighters.

map fire Javea Spain
The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite as a wildfire burned near Javea, Spain.
Map Javea fire
This 3-D Map shows the approximate area where the Javea fire burned September 4 and 5, 2016. This is a very rough estimate, based on the satellite data. Click to enlarge.

The fire started on one of the hottest days of the year when the temperature reached 40ºC (104ºF).

Many people have posted information on Twitter about the fire, including BBC media personality Chris Stark, who sounds like the actor Hugh Grant in a couple of videos he has uploaded about the fire. Apparently he was on holiday in the area. We can’t embed Twitter videos, but you can see them here. For a while he thought that perhaps his apartment and car had burned, but at the last report they were spared.

Chris Stark
Chris Stark. A screenshot from one of his videos posted Monday morning, U.S. time.

The video below is a drive through a residential area in which the fire burned.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.