Extinguished the forest fire of Puig de Son Muntaner, which has burned more than half a hectare

PalmaEmergency services declared extinguished this Sunday morning the forest fire declared on Saturday on the Puig de Son Muntaner, in Palma, near Son Rapinya. The fire burned a little more than half a hectare of pine forest and was definitively extinguished at 7:56 a.m., after having been stabilized on Saturday at 5:50 p.m.

The fire was confirmed at 4:53 p.m. in the vicinity of the Jaume II military base and was initially declared with a potential severity of level 1 due to the proximity of homes and roads.

According to initial reports, the fire would have started in a pile of waste located approximately one kilometer from the military base roundabout. Among the possible causes being investigated are a stone or a piece of glass, although the origin is not yet confirmed.

The flames advanced down a slope towards the areas near Gènova and Son Rapinya. The lack of wind, as explained by the extinction services, made it possible to control the fire quickly. In fact, the same teams warned that a windy situation could have favored a much faster spread due to the large amount of waste accumulated in the area.

Means from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment and the Palma Firefighters participated in the extinction operation, with 3 aerial means, 2 water tenders, and 35 forest firefighters. The Local Police also intervened during the emergency and preventively evacuated a dwelling located within the affected perimeter.

The risk of fire remains particularly high this weekend. This Saturday, the forest fire danger level was at its maximum in the Balearic Islands, with Fire Alert 4, coinciding with the yellow alert activated by Aemet for maximum temperatures between 36 and 38 degrees in Mallorca.

What does potential severity 1 imply?

The potential severity classification 1 indicates that, due to its evolution, a fire can seriously affect non-forest assets or people and may require the adoption of protection measures.

Unlike level 0, the lowest on the scale, a fire with potential severity 1 can pose a risk to isolated homes, housing developments, main roads, infrastructures, and recreational areas if the flames or smoke advance towards these spaces.

Depending on the evolution of the fire, this classification also allows for measures such as preventive confinement, traffic closures, or evacuations, such as the one carried out preventively on Saturday at a dwelling near the fire.