Car fires worry residents
Incident in La Siesta could have caused a natural disaster, say residents
CAR fires in different areas of Torrevieja have put residents on their guard.
The local police reported that a man had suffered serious burns in a blaze which affected two vehicles in Los Balcones on Friday night.
They noted that the fire had occurred at around 21.30 in Calle Lucentum.
A local police patrol and Guardia Civil officers were ‘on the scene quickly’.
They had attempted to extinguish the flames with the help of local residents but had not been able to do so ‘due the virulence of the fire’.
Fire engines arrived shortly afterwards and firefighters were able to douse the flames ‘in a couple of minutes’.
Witnesses reported that a man who had been standing next to one of the cars had been injured by the flames and had
left the scene. A local police spokesperson reported that officers launched a search for the man and he was located around 300 metres away, with second and third degree burns to his arms and legs.
An ambulance took him to Torrevieja hospital for treatment.
The spokesman reported that the Guardia Civil are investigating the incident and ‘they will try to find the cause of the fire and if it may have been started deliberately’.
The previous weekend a van was destroyed by a fire in Calle Rodrigo in La Siesta.
The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning and residents told Costa Blanca News that when they were woken up by a barking dog, they had seen a person leaving the scene.
They alleged that the vehicle had been set on fire deliberately.
The van was parked just a couple of metres from the boundary fence to La Mata-Torrevieja park, and the large area of pine woods that stands on the southern shore of La Mata lake.
The residents said that the fire could easily have spread to the vegetation – and if that had occurred that there would have been a ‘natural disaster’, with the woods and grasses in the protected area extremely dry at present due to the shortage of rain. The flames damaged a nearby lamppost, which was mended the following week by repairmen, as the street had been left without lights.
The burned out van was still in the street as Costa Blanca News went to press.