Europa Press | Efe Valencia

Valencia

Updated Monday, February 12, 2024-18:14

The forest fire declared this Monday in El Saler has forced the evacuation of

five towers of buildings near the Sidi Hotel,

a building to which about 30 people have been transferred preventively. In addition, three people have had to be treated by medical personnel for smoke inhalation.

This was detailed by the Firefighters Councilor of the Valencia City Council, Juan Carlos Caballero, who visited, together with the Devesa-Albufera Councilor, José Gosálbez, the Advanced Command Post, installed in the El Saler Fire Station.

The fire, which broke out around 2:50 p.m. this Monday, has forced the establishment of situation 1 of the Special Forest Fire Plan (PEIF) and

cutting off traffic in both directions - from Perellonet and El Saler - on the CV-500 highway

to avoid travel to El Saler, the Emergency Coordination Center and the Civil Guard have reported and the DGT Traffic Management Center has confirmed to Europa Press.

In the extinction tasks, a total of

15 fire vehicles from the Valencia City Council

are working , with about 30 personnel, as well as a coordinating foreman from the Valencia Provincial Firefighters Consortium, three units - two of them helicarried - and one fire engine of the forest firefighters of the Generalitat, an aerial means and an environmental agent.

Caballero has highlighted that for the moment "it seems that the weather conditions help the firefighters to continue working to control this fire", he has asked for "prudence" and has maintained that "all the personnel - both firefighters, the Consortium, "The firefighters of Valencia, the Civil Guard, the Local Police-- have the same objective, which is to control this fire."

Asked about the possibility that the fire was caused by three initial outbreaks, the mayor refused to confirm anything, as he assured that "it is not up to firefighters to talk about this", while noting that the weather conditions at the beginning of the fire point to the fact that the gusts of wind themselves "may have spread those flames in various places."

Likewise, he pointed out that

the residents of El Saler have not been affected by the fire

, whose radius "is quite controlled at the moment" and has not generated "any problems." "In fact, the El Saler school itself has acted normally, classes have ended and the parents have gone to pick up the children," he concluded.

From the AP-7 you can see the smoke caused by the fire in El Saler, an area in which there were fires a month ago and where up to nine fires were recorded between last summer and the month of October and for

which They arrested a 59-year-old man,

who was prohibited from approaching and entering the wooded area.