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Date Published: 04/10/2021

ARCHIVED - Fire burns down 12 caravans at La Manga campsite

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Firefighters had to use water from a swimming pool to put out the flames due to a lack of fire hydrants

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Fire burns down 12 caravans at La Manga campsite

A fire broke out at the Villas Caravaning de La Manga campsite in Cartagena yesterday morning, Sunday October 3, razing at least 12 campervans to the ground. Twenty people had to be evacuated from their homes because of the blaze, which started after sparks began flying off a nearby electricity pylon.

At around 8am, these sparks set light to one of the mobile homes, trapping three people inside. While neighbours and friends tried to help, emergency services were mobilised to help put out the flames, which soon spread to nearby caravans and created a huge column of smoke that was visible from miles away.

Juan García, neighbourhood representative for the campsite, which is accessed from the La Manga motorway between Playa Honda and the Lomas de Mar de Cristal, explained, “The fire started shortly after 8am, when there was a strong spark in an electrical tower that supplies power to four properties in sector F, in the area bordering Playa Honda.”

While firefighters battled to keep the flames under control, police removed butane canisters and gas cookers as a preventative measure to stop them blowing up. The blaze was extinguished a little after midday, thanks to the fact that the wind was blowing from Lebeche instead of Levante, making it easier to put out the flames. No traffic even had to be cut off on the motorway.

However, the fire crews’ work was made harder by the lack of water pumps and fire hydrants in the campsite, forcing them to use water from a swimming pool to put out the fire. It is not obligatory by law to have water pumps on site, but highly advisable as there are 2,249 caravan plots in the Villas Caravaning de La Manga campsite, and just over a thousand are owned by permanent occupants. The rest are for seasonal rental, with 1,500 plots currently occupied after a fully-booked summer season.

Even so, the fire brigade made quick work of the fire, but it had already consumed 19 plots of land and 12 caravans which housed some 20 people. Alternative housing and psychological support were offered to the residents who had lost their homes, but all of them had family and friends they could go and stay with instead.

Nobody was killed or seriously injured, but health workers reported that a 60-year-old woman was being treated in the Santa Lucía Hospital in Cartagena for “unspecified burns”.

El mando operativo de @Bomberos_CT informa que el incendio declarado en el Camping Villas Caravaning, junto al Mar Menor, #Cartagena, queda controlado. Siguen los trabajos para asegurar la zona afectada y evitar que pueda rebrotar. pic.twitter.com/CivRGJ1rbk
— 112 Región de Murcia (@112rmurcia) October 3, 2021