90% of land burned in the province belongs to the Campo area

Torreguadiaro, June 2012
(Photo: Neil French)

San Roque heads the 2012 list with 199 hectares destroyed by 17 fires

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR As we look out at cloudy, rainy skies, it may be difficult to remember that the dry summer of 2012 followed a dry 2011/2012 winter. And although the total number of hectares burned down was below that of the last decade, and no lives were lost, the Infoca Plan results can be seen as an achievement needing improvement. Of the total of 70 fires registered in the province of Cádiz, 45 began in the Campo de Gibraltar. At the same time, 90% of the fires were on common land, and of these, 80% belonged to the municipality of San Roque. Those at Torreguadiaro and Miraflores were at Level 1, the highest. Figures show that 53% of the fires were set on purpose, and 24%, the result of negligence. On the positive, environmental side, only 0.13% of the burned land were within the two major Nature Parks, Los Alcornocales and El Estrecho, which take up 170,000 hectares between them.