TERRORISTS!

Arsonists

SPECIALIST fire units are counting the cost of one the biggest wildfires in Spain for a decade.

The Castellon fire is finally under control after raging for nine days, destroying 4,700 hectares of mountain woodland.

Some 1,700 residents were evacuated after the blaze started in the Alto Mijares region on March 23.

Strong gusts of wind caused a few embers to relight over the weekend but reappearing flames were quickly extinguished.

Most residents have finally been able to return to their homes, after being forced to stay at special emergency

By Alex Trelinski

centres.

While no properties were destroyed, a number of the 500 firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation.

The fire was described by Valencian president Ximo Puig as being more of a summer fire fanned by 'voracious' summer-like temperatures.

Hard-working fire crews were able to prevent it from entering the valuable Sierra de Espadan natural park.

The fire is believed to have started from a spark of a machine ‘used to collect brushwood'.

Raisin the roof

DENIA will have a new cultural centre on the top floor of a former Cooperative warehouse once owned by the Manchester retailer.

The building was built in 1910 to store Valencian raisins for export to London and Liverpool.

The Plaza del Convent business closed in the late sixties but its ground floor has been home to many outlets over the decades.

Denia council has now struck a deal to rent the top floor for cultural use with the 1,080 m2 space maintaining its original look with its original ceiling of iron and wood beams.

STRONG GUSTS: Winds and hot weather blamed

“Everything points to the fire starting due to agricultural malpractice,” claimed regional fire chief Jose Maria Angel. So serious was the blaze that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez insisted the intensity was down to the alarming drought conditions currently threatening Spain.

"There is no room for denial because the climate emergency causes dramas like the one we are experiencing," he said on a visit to the area.

A further 600 firefighters were drafted in to battle an alarming 91 blazes in the north of Spain last week.

Nearly 400 people were evacuated from a number of key inland areas of Asturias, as a