Charlotte HansonI WAS horrified looking at the photographs showing the sheer scale of the fire that attacked Mijas earlier this week. I cannot imagine how frightening it must have been for the residents who were evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night, given in some cases just five minutes to gather what they could and flee.
In a landscape such as ours, these fires are a sad reminder of how fragile our earth is and how we must protect, support and look after each other and the land upon which we live.
The fire could easily have claimed lives as well as property and it is a miracle that not more homes were lost. The emergency services amazed everyone with their magnificent work and their ability to contain and eventually extinguish the fire despite the high winds and vast area being consumed by flames.
I am told that the land in these areas has its own natural way of dealing with such devastation and will regenerate but I can’t bring myself to think about the animals that could not escape and perished in such an awful manner.
And as for the person or people who deliberately started the fire? What on earth were they thinking? Why in a million years would someone even think to put at risk the lives of residents and the emergency services by creating such a disaster ON PURPOSE? On the day when we remembered the thousands of lives taken by terrorists working in the air, did they feel they needed to burn their feelings into the ground. Or did they just not think at all.
I just don’t understand.
You are jumping the gun a bit Charlotte. It was reported to be a barbecue, so may not have been a deliberate act of arson. So far anyway.
You’re sort of right Fred. It was originally reported as arson, and then as a barbecue. Perhaps they should have put their barbecue out properly or more carefully and then we can both be right!
Sort of, lol. It is probably best to post conclusions after the formal investigation. The mayor immediately started saying it was arson, the old chestnut of something to do with revenge for not granting planning permission etc. How they came to that conclusion so quickly was interesting.
Anyway, the “latest” information is that it was a small bonfire that got out of control. The last Mijas fire in 2001 took until now to regenerate. It will be interesting to see what the official cause was.