Marina Alta fire brigades kept busy

FOUR minor fires affected Gata, Orba, Javea and Jalon last Sunday. 
The first, affecting terracing and vegetation, was detected soon after 12 noon on the Orba–Murla road but was completely extinguished by Denia and Benissa firefighters by 1.37 pm. 
At practically the same time a helicopter from the Fire Brigade Consortium, assisted by firefighters on the ground, was called out after flames rekindled in Gata’s La Rana area on the Javea road. A day earlier, this same fire had swept through a dense reedbed, damaging a 30-metre high eucalyptus that was planted in 1915. 
There was yet more work for the Marina Alta brigades when another fire was reported soon after 1 pm on land between a road and pinewoods near Javea’s La Barraca beach.  This was dealt with in less than an hour by the Denia fire brigade assisted by a firefighting helicopter and an AT 55 aircraft. 
Later that day the Emergency Services received yet another alert, this time involving woodland in Jalon, requiring reinforcements from the air as well as a forest-firefighting unit.