The Municipality of Mijas launches a campaign to prevent forest fires – Municipality of Mijas

Mijas, June 3, 2025.- For the second consecutive year, the Mijas City Council has launched a campaign to prevent forest fires. It is an informative campaign that will be disseminated through institutional social networks and Mijas Comunicación.

Mijas, due to its climate and natural characteristics, presents a high risk of forest fires, especially during the summer months. Furthermore, the town is included in the high-risk areas for forest fires in Andalucia, as established by regional regulations (Law 5/1999, of June 29, on ‘Prevention and fight against forest fires and its regulations’).

“The campaign presents images of everyday life in the face of the effects of fires as a means to raise awareness of the serious consequences they have. In Mijas, unfortunately, we have experienced fires that have caused a lot of damage and irreparable consequences to our natural environment. Prevention is the best tool,” explained Ana Mata.

Francisco Jerez, the councilor for Firefighters and Civil Protection, emphasized the importance of citizen involvement in reducing the risk of forest fires: “Every summer we face a real and very high risk. Although we have great professionals and response resources, the most effective thing is still to prevent the fire from starting. And that depends, to a large extent, on the residents and visitors of Mijas. A careless act, an imprudence, can trigger a tragedy.”

Jerez emphasized that the collaboration of everyone is essential: “It’s not just about following the rules, but being aware of the environment we live in and acting responsibly. This campaign aims precisely at appealing to the conscience of each person to protect what belongs to all.”

‘May only the sun shine this summer, not the flames,’ ‘Sparks of happiness that are not destroyed by fire,’ and ‘Live a dazzling summer from beginning to end’ are the three messages around which the initiative is structured, following the same approach as last year. The goal is to juxtapose images of everyday summer life and convey how a small gesture can lead to a fire with irreversible consequences. The campaign will be disseminated in both English and Spanish.

In this prevention effort, the mayor recalled that this year, for the first time, the Mijas City Council has put out to tender the maintenance of the mountain range to ensure that the forest mass is in the best possible condition. All this with a budget of 1,217,715.13 million euros (including VAT) and valid until 2029, including the corresponding extensions.

Regarding the tasks included in the contract, they highlight silvicultural treatments, clearing through cutting, thinning, pruning (including the elimination of invasive species), forest replanting, and conservation, maintenance, and improvement of forest infrastructure. The area of action will be the Sierra Blanca and Bermeja, always following technical criteria when carrying out the work.

In general, the work will be carried out from Monday to Friday in campaigns lasting eight months between October 1 and May 31.

Explicit prohibitions

From June 1 to October 15, a series of explicit prohibitions are established by the Andalusian government to prevent fires. These are set out in the regional order of May 21, 2009, which stipulates that the use of fire and the transit of motor vehicles in forest areas and their surrounding areas (including riverbanks and streams) are prohibited, within a 400-meter strip around these areas.

Therefore, it is not allowed to have barbecues even in designated areas, such as recreational or camping areas, nor can agricultural burns or vegetative debris burns be carried out. In fact, in the case of Mijas, all barbecues in El Esparragal Park have been sealed off as a preventive measure.