Car insurers sign payout agreement for Mijas forest fire
Car insurers sign payout agreement for Mijas forest fire
25 March 2008
published by www.typicallyspanish.com
Spain — The company has agreed to pay 2.5 million compensation for the blaze started by a spark from a hire car engine An agreement was signed on Tuesday by which the insurance company, Volksfürsorge, will pay the Junta de Andalucía regional government 2.5 million in compensation for a forest fire which destroyed 600 hectares in the Sierra de Mijas in the summer of 2001.
The blaze raged for a number of days before it was finally extinguished and caused 300 people to be evacuated from their homes.
The compensation covers the cost of the fire-fighting operation, as well as the reforestation of 590 hectares of public land, EFE reports.
Volksfürsorge are the insurers of the hire car which broke down on the road to Coín in July that year, and which started the blaze with a spark from its smoking engine. The Juntas environment chief for Málaga province, Ignacio Trillo, said the agreement sets an important precedent, as the first known payout of its type, not only in Spain, but also in the world.
