Costa Blanca forest fire looks to have been started intentionally

THE Generalitat’s Environment Department and the Guardia Civil are investigating the forest fire affecting Beniarda, Guadalest and Castell de Castells.
The fire had two fronts, leading them to suspect this could have been started intentionally.
One focus was located in the Sierra de l’Aixorta between Guadalest and Beniarda, destroying 4.5 hectares of woodland.
The second, 3 kilometres away in Barranc de les Coves in the mountainous Serrella area near Castell de Castells, was much harder to contain owing to its inaccessibility.
Approximately 20.5 hectares of land were burnt in the 17 hours that fire brigades and fire-fighting aircraft required to control and extinguish the blaze.
According to Provincial Fire Consortium sources, the fire would have caused even more damage if they had not taken action sooner.  The two fronts could have combined, affecting 200 hectares of land in the zone where the Marina Baja and Marina Alta meet, they said.