Cherry picker used to inspect palm trees in Torrevieja catches fire

Yesterday, Tuesday November 25th, a fire destroyed the lifting machine on the Punta Margalla promenade that the parks and gardens maintenance company’s workers had been using to do an emergency...

November 26, 2025 2 Mins Read

Yesterday, Tuesday November 25th, a fire destroyed the lifting machine on the Punta Margalla promenade that the parks and gardens maintenance company’s workers had been using to do an emergency inspection of the municipal inventory of five thousand palm trees ordered by the Torrevieja City Council.

The government team started doing assessment work when a young man died when a palm tree fell on his car on the CV-905. On November 15th, the red palm weevil got into the palm tree.

Intervention

The fire started in the lower half of the specialised vehicle used to access higher places shortly after 1:30 p.m. The Provincial Fire Consortium said on Tuesday that the fire started where the engine and wheels are and spread to the remainder of the car through the tyres. Six firefighters from the Torrevieja fire station went to the scene, along with officials from the Civil Guard and the police. Workers who take care of the park and gardens had already put the machinery out of use and were waiting for its owner to pick it up. According to people that INFORMACIÓN spoke with, it was not in use when the fire broke out.

Jobs

The lift has been doing this check for more than a week. It’s an examination that goes beyond just looking at the plants, which sometimes doesn’t find red palm weevil larvae or adults.

Workers are gathering samples from the top of the palm tree, pounding the trunk with a mallet to see if it is hollow, and drilling a small hole to get plant material. The team has been doing this job along the water on the Vista Alegre and Juan Aparicio promenades in the last few days. Now they are going north towards Punta Margalla.

The column of smoke that rose from the shore could be seen from all over Los Locos beach, and it scared people who lived there. Renting machines allows work to continue in other parts of the municipality.

Another blaze

On the same day, another fire broke out in the same area near Los Locos beach. It burnt a motorbike and damaged two balconies of the building next to where it was parked. The Fire Consortium hasn’t said anything about this event yet.