A forest fire declared this Tuesday in Polop de la Marina (Alicante) has deployed a wide extinction device and has forced the preventive evacuation of about twenty people. The flames affect an area of mountainous rural vegetation in the Bacorero area, difficult to access by land, and have caused the closure of the CV-70 and CV-7621 roads.
The Provincial Consortium of Firefighters of Alicante received the alert at 11:58 hours. The operation has been increasing as the fire evolved, with ground forces and aerial means working to contain the flames.
Situation 1 activated due to the Polop fire
The Emergency Coordination Center of the Generalitat has established the Situation 1 of the Special Plan against the Risk of Forest Fires of the Valencian Community (PEIF).
This level is activated in the face of an emergency that, due to its foreseeable evolution, can seriously affect forest assets and, in its case, do so mildly on the population and non-forest assets.
The complicated orography of Bacorero is conditioning the extinction efforts. The fire started in a terraced area located in a difficult access area for ground teams, which forced the use of aerial means from the very beginning.
Preventive evacuations and closed roads
The evolution of the flames has led to the preventive evacuation of about twenty people from homes near the fire, according to information released from the area. So far, no injuries have been reported.
The Civil Guard has also proceeded to close the CV-70 and CV-7621 as a consequence of the fire. The first of these roads constitutes one of the main connections from the interior of the Marina Baixa to the surroundings of Benidorm.
The mayor of Polop, José Luis Susmozas, has indicated that he hopes the evacuated neighbors can return to their homes when safety conditions allow it.
A wide deployment by land and air
The device has been progressively reinforced since the first alert was received. The update provided by Emergencies around 14:00 counted five ground units of forest firefighters, five fire trucks, ten units from the Provincial Consortium of Alicante, and seven aerial means, along with two environmental agents and a Fire Prevention Unit.
Subsequently, sources on the ground raised to ten the aerial means and up to 13 the Provincial Consortium units mobilized. The aircraft are taking water from the Guadalest reservoir and from an irrigation pond in Polop to carry out the discharges.
Since the beginning of the emergency, a fire management helicopter was also mobilized, aimed at facilitating the observation of the terrain and the coordination of the extinction tasks from the air.
The fire remains in full evolution, so both the number of deployed means and the situation of the roads and evacuated homes may change in the coming hours.