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By Humphrey Carter

With so much interest in the widespread damage caused by the Andraitx fire yesterday as hundreds of people made the most of the Estellencs to Andraitx road being reopened to traffic, I hope that they get the message. This was the worst fire of the year in Spain this year and the worst in the Balearics for the past two decades and it was started by “negligence” - by an individual dumping a load of still hot coals from a BBQ in the woods. He has appeared in court and been released, I presume pending further investigation.

But, considering the majority of forest fires are now caused either on purpose or by negligence, I hope that hundreds more people head up into the mountains and see just how much damage has been done and learn the lesson because next time, a fire of that scale could claim lives and properties, not to mention the cost to the environment. Experts have said it will take 80 years for the ecology to recover that means none of us will ever see the area like it was ever again.