From the Ibiza Sun:
Disaster
There must be very few on the island unaware of the devastating forest fire which raged across the north of Ibiza last week. What started as a routine day for a bee-keeper near San Carlos has resulted in the biggest environmental disaster recorded on the island, with more than 1,400 hectares affected by the flames, 2.6 per cent of the total land surface in Ibiza. The 50-year-old man, nationalized Spanish but originally from Argentina, had been using a smoke dispenser to tranquillise his bees during the morning in order to work on the hives and had left the location not realizing that anything was amiss.
It is presumed that a spark had set alight the tinder-dry undergrowth, the fierce wind fanned the flames and in no time the nearby pine trees were ablaze. The fire was spotted at midday last Wednesday, almost two hours after the man had left his hives, but it was not until Saturday afternoon that the fire was classified as ‘controlled', although far from extinguished. The judge received an evaluation from Seprona, the environmental department of the Guardia Civil, over the weekend, who made it clear, that despite eyewitness claims that there were several different fires going on at the same time, it had in fact commenced in a single spot, very close to where the bee-keeper had his hives. The man was imprisoned without bail and faces a ten-year prison sentence for endangering the environment and lives.
By Friday there were 400 members of the emergency service helping to fight the fire, as well as seven helicopters, eight planes, and five bulldozers.
The Minister of Defence, Carme Chacón, flew over the area in a helicopter on Thursday and described the situation as “very uglyâ€. She had joined Francesc Antich and José Ramon Bauzá, the outgoing and new Presidents of the Balearic Govern respectively, to witness the events at first hand. Apart from the many fire fighters on land, hydroplanes and helicopters were drafted in from Mallorca, Valencia and as far away as Madrid, in an attempt to stop the spread of the flames. Dozens of members of the UME, the military emergency unit, were playing their roles, on land and in the air, with satellite photographs posted on the web showing the extent of the area which was being devoured by the flames. By Saturday the blaze was already the second most serious on record in the Balearics, only slightly short of the 2,022 hectares which burnt to the ground in August 1992 in s'Alqueria de Artà in Mallorca.
Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from their homes and holiday makers in rural hotels were transferred to safer destinations. All the clients of the Paradise Beach Hotel in Portinatx were taken to another hotel within the same group in Puerto San Miguel, whilst the management of the El Greco Hotel kept in regular contact with the authorities to ascertain whether their guests would be safer elsewhere. Both the local school in Sant Joan and the kindergarten sent their pupils home on Thursday as a precautionary measure.
On Saturday afternoon Telefónica laid a temporary three kilometre cable to Cala Sant Vicent, and the residents in the area were reconnected with the outside world by telephone. The fire had damaged several posts and the fibre optic cables during Wednesday night and almost 200 households were left without ‘phones or computers.
The new President of the Consell in Ibiza, Vicent Serra, expressed his concern about the financing of the rejuvenation of the area, which is one of the most densely forested parts of the island. A plan will need to be adopted to carry out the work, as was the case in 2008 in Benirràs after the fire there, that where possible, will allow nature to take its course. If the plan for Benirrà s, where 376 hectares were burnt, cost almost €3 million, the area which has been devastated in the Morna Valley is 1,000 hectares more and will therefore need a considerably higher budget. The boroughs involved, San Joan and Santa Eulalia, are studying the possibility of classifying the area as a ‘disaster zone', which would result in subsidies being forthcoming from both the Balearic and Central Government coffers.
Only one member of the team of fire fighters suffered an injury, and that was a young man who was stung by a bee, causing an anaphylactic reaction. The new President of the Consell, who is a doctor by profession, was on hand to give him a cortisone injection before travelling with him in the ambulance to the Can Misses Hospital, where he was admitted for observation. The major victims have been the flora and fauna, especially the birds which are incubating their chicks at the moment. Two hawks, the peregrine falcon and the Eleonor, are amongst their numbers, as are the wood pigeons, the partridge and the collared dove, which all proliferate in these inaccessible woods. There are also many species of pine tree which are only found there, but fortunately due to the strong winds, there were many pockets of trees left untouched, and it is hoped that in the future seeds from these trees will help to populate the devastated sections.
