Work to restore Motril park affected by arson has begun

Almuñecar town council has started work to restore a park that was partially affected by an alleged arson on Friday.

The councillor for Agriculture, Nicolas Navarro, announced his department will work to revitalise some 50 palm trees that burnt in Motril’s Pueblos de America park.

The park is considered the town’s ‘green lung’ and is home to trees from the American continent, some of them being more than 20 years old.

The fire broke out at around 10 pm on Friday affecting two ranks of trees.

Firefighters needed almost five hours before calling it officially extinguished.

They separated the burning trees from the rest to prevent the fire from expanding.

National Police sources said all signs point to an arson after analysing the site in search of the substances that started it.

Councillor Navarro has made a plea to Motril residents to help prevent these events in the future, and asked them to make a good use of the town’s public areas.

Meanwhile, Mayor Luisa Garcia Chamorro announced the Local Security Committee –which includes the Guardia Civil and the Local Police among other forces- will be called to deal with this matter and other fires that have recently affected the town.