Guadalest blaze
Short-circuit caused by pine tree falling on an electricity cable sparked the blaze that destroyed 20 hectares of forestland
A tanker plane fills up at Guadalest reservoir on Tuesday to drop water on the nearby fire that destroyed 20 hectares of forestland in two days.
THE FIRE that raged in Guadalest valley on Tuesday is now officially classed as "controlled"; all the flames were finally put out on Wednesday morning.
The 14 people who were evacuated from their homes were allowed back on Wednesday night.
Aircraft could still been seen flying over the area yesterday (Thursday), making sure that there were no flare-ups.
Initial investigations by Seprona experts point towards the fire being initially caused by a pine tree falling on an electric cable at the bottom of the valley on Tuesday afternoon.
The high wind and the lie of land caused the flames to spread quickly and turn into a raging forest fire that quickly climbed up the valley.
Fire services were called at 14.30 and were quickly on the scene, fighting the flames from the ground and the air.
A change in the wind at 16.30 favoured the firefighters' hard work and by Tuesday evening the fire was oficially classified as "stabilised", although its perimeter was still not under control.
At one time 13 aircraft along with nine forest brigades and seven fire brigades were working on controlling the fire. The fight was not easy, as the terrain consisted of lots of deep gullies that were not easily accessible to the ground brigades.
These ground brigades continued to work throughout Tuesday night on the fire, which was located only 2 kms from the town of Guadalest.
In all, the forest fire burnt 20 hectares of forestland before it was finally extinguished.