The culprit behind five fires in the Valencian town of Mislata in Alicante has been taken into custody by National Police officers. The fire caused substantial property damage and necessitated medical attention for smoke inhalation.

The National Police were notified of many simultaneous fires that were erupting in multiple spots within the La Florida-La Viña neighbourhood at midnight on March 25th. Personnel from the Alicante Fire Station and members of the Provincial Citizen Security Brigade were also sent to the several locations.

A number of vehicles were also impacted by the fire, which caused significant damage to many of them and entirely burnt one due to the ferocity of the flames, which in every instance had begun in waste containers.

Containers and cars caused the fire to spread to the building façade, putting the occupants of surrounding residences in danger. Firefighters rescued a blind woman who was unable to leave her home, and residents of many residences, including those in a game room, were forced to flee.

Because of the perilous circumstances, the massive volume of smoke, and the spectacular character of the flames, some people needed medical assistance for anxiety attacks and smoke inhalation. The signs of two nearby companies were also materially damaged, as was the façade of these buildings.

The inquiry was taken over by judicial police officers from the Alicante Central District Police Station, who carried out a number of investigations to confirm the timeline and ultimately identify the alleged fire offender.

Officers found the offender in the Valencian town of Mislata after doing the necessary investigation, and he was taken into custody on charges of arson and destruction.

Eleven rubbish and recycling containers worth 17,500 euros were damaged in the fire, along with seven cars, one of which was totally destroyed.

Following police investigations, the 42-year-old inmate was sent before the Mislata Court of Instruction on duty, where he was given an imprisonment order.

Vicent Grimalt, the mayor of Dénia, and Ana Vasbinder, the director of the Benidorm Clinical Hospital, signed a cooperation agreement this Tuesday to plan training exercises for the Local Police in the areas of accident or health-related assistance, prevention, and first aid.

The technical tools required for the training, including a mock defibrillator and a dummy to simulate resuscitation techniques, were also supplied by the Benidorm Clinic Hospital, which has operated in Dénia for three years.

The first term of this arrangement will be four years.

The materials “will be used immediately in the road safety and first aid classes” that the force conducts in the city’s schools, according to Jovi Estruch, Chief Superintendent of the Dénia Local Police. Additionally, the first course that will be offered as a result of this partnership with the HCB is already planned for June.

This partnership with Dénia City Council and the Local Police “is an obligation, but also an honour, in response to the warm welcome we have received from the public,” said Ana Vasbinder, who is also the director of Institutional Relations at Benidorm Clinical Hospital.

“One of our goals as a company is to be part of the social network in the communities where we work, so being able to help police officers improve their care of people is a commitment for us ,” Vasbinder said.

The health centre’s director further underlined that “their actions can often save lives” because the local police are frequently the first emergency services to arrive at an accident scene.

The Benidorm Clinical Hospital was recognised by the mayor for its participation “in this and many other municipal initiatives related to health and sport.”

As part of the processing of the new European Regulation on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), Rosario Martínez Chazarra, spokesperson for the Popular Party Municipal Group, presented a motion in favour of the fishing industry, which the Ordinary Plenary Session of Torrevieja City Council approved on urgent grounds on Monday, March 31st. All political parties represented in the City Council (PP, PSOE, VOX, and Sueña Torrevieja) unanimously accepted the resolution.

The urgency is justified by the fact that the European Commission is now holding a public involvement procedure for the CFP regulation’s wording, and the administrative bodies of Member States have until April 21st, 2025, to submit their recommendations.

In Torrevieja, the fishing industry has a significant socioeconomic impact. Because of its significance as a food supply, its long history in the city, its close ties to generations of Torrevieja people, and its role in the landscape and economic activities of our municipality, it is a vital and crucial sector.

In order to guarantee the sustainability of EU fisheries from an environmental, economic, and social standpoint, the Common Fisheries Policy underwent its most recent update in 2013.

In addition to the implementation of other complementary measures like enhanced selectivity, closed areas, and seasons, among others, there has been a notable decrease in fishing effort, which has reached over 40% of fishing days. The Artisanal Coastal Fishing Fleet of the Valencian Community caught 25% more in 2024 than the year before. Between 2023 and 2024, the catch grew from 15,000 tonnes valued at €81.1 million to 19,035 tonnes valued at €94.3 million. It is clear that the Torrevieja fish market played a major role in reaching these catch values.

Despite these numbers, our municipality’s fishing vessels are in a precarious position as a result of recent Council of the European Union decisions that cut the number of fishing days to just 27 annually. This action renders the city’s fishing industry, which creates a significant number of direct and indirect jobs, unviable, despite its enormous social value.

As fishermen in the Valencian Community gathered 150,000 tonnes of trash, mostly plastic, from the Mediterranean Sea last year alone, Mediterranean fishing has substantial ecological and environmental value in our sea in addition to being a major economic, tourism, cultural, and culinary asset for our municipality.

In plenary, it was decided that the appropriate body would encourage the Spanish government to ask the European Commission for all of these reasons:

• A 25% increase in catches was made possible by the extension of the fishing season to 133 days.
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• Since the catch of almost 200 species cannot be dependent on criteria specified for just one, as is the case with hake, there should be greater transparency when determining the criterion for ongoing fishing.
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• Enhance and broaden the standards used to assess the true fishing stock of the entire group of species.
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• When making significant judgements, the industry should be considered, and these decisions should be made quickly. Their way of life cannot be drastically altered annually by a political decision made in December with little warning. Since fishing is also a business activity and should be subject to the same foresight as other economic activities, the procedures for changing the number of fishing days should be made public beforehand, and the regulated term should be 10 or five years.
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• That the time horizon for reaching maximum sustainable performance beyond 2030 should be delayed by limiting the margins of change to no more than 5 to 10% per year rather than the current 70% reduction.
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• Since this rule was designed for Atlantic fisheries, not Mediterranean fisheries, it is necessary to remove the requirement to land fish that are unsuited for sale.
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• Additionally, scientists with expertise in the Mediterranean should implement the Fisheries Commission’s internal recommendations.