Alex Trelinski
A MUNICIPAL fireworks display in Teulada got out of control on Monday destroying 2.5 hectares of land and setting fire to racing pigeon cages where at least 30 birds died.
Three cars were destroyed that were parked up on land outside a finca.
The Guardia Civil evacuated 15 people from their homes as the blaze spread with wind gusts exceeding 60 kilometres an hour.
The display- to close the Saint Vincent fiesta- was halted shortly before 11.00pm with the fire brought under control at 2.16am.
The attraction was based in the sports field, but two fireworks landed behind the municipal cemetery and another near the auditorium.
The combination of the gusts and the dry vegetation caused the fire to spread quickly.
It was feared that the blaze would spread to scattered properties leading to the precautionary evacuations
The fire and smoke killed at least 30 pigeons kept in cages by a farmer on land next to an abandoned house that was burnt down.
The farmer told the Levante newspaper that fire crews would not let him into the area to allow him to open the cages.
“It’s not the value of the racing pigeons that I’m upset about, but my attachment to them,” he said.
Last August, a fire started in Calpe during a fireworks display at the Castell a la Mar, with rockets landing on the Banys de la Reina archaeological site.
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