Spate of Marina Alta fires looks suspicious

ON Friday last week, the Marina Alta was threatened by fire for the 10th time in six days. 
The alarm was raised at 6pm as flames advanced through bushes and scrub on Montgo’s south face in Javea and at one point it was feared that the fire would affect the zone’s dense pinewoods. 
Local fire brigades, including the Balcon al Mar volunteer firefighters, forest-firefighters and firefighting aircraft succeeded in halting the blaze, stabilising it within an hour although as the burnt area was still smoking, aircraft doused the area until nightfall. 
The rapid and coordinated intervention by firefighters prevented a large-scale disaster like those of other years in the area but the authorities are increasingly suspicious that a pyromaniac is behind this latest spate of fires in local beauty spots. 
Last Friday’s fire broke out at the side of the Cami dels Castellans road, repeating the pattern of all the other fires, also prompting Javea’s mayor Jose Chulvi to suggest that they appeared to have been deliberate.