After the fire came the ashes. This is what the leisure area in Platja d’en Bossa looked like on Tuesday morning, after flames devoured several premises next to Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach in the early hours of the day. Among the buildings affected were the S’Espardell and Sa Sal restaurants, as well as a social club.
«We were scared to death», said one of the women who was evacuated and lives in one of the houses on top of the building above the three burnt premises. A total of three staircases, each containing 20 flats, had to be evacuated. This resulted in 30 families being evacuated from the flats at the top of the building.
The woman recounts how she and her family ran out of their house while a fire raged through three nearby buildings. Still in shock, she points out that they left with only the clothes on their backs. It was a devastating event, with flames causing irreversible damage to the building’s structure, leaving it covered in black.
30 evacuees
According to members of the Ibiza Fire Brigade, these people had to be evacuated because the flames reached the first floor of the residential building, but the evacuees were able to return to their homes at around 6:30 in the morning. It important to remember that the incident occurred at around 2.15 a.m., the busiest time for tourists in the leisure area. It should be noted that, at first, it was the security teams of the nearby leisure establishments who helped to evacuate the residents and to coordinate traffic. For his part, the mayor of Sant Josep, Vicent Roig, who was in the area, highlighted the ‘rapid action’ of the security teams of these leisure premises, who managed to partially contain the effects of the initial flames with fire extinguishers. Within minutes, up to seven fire engines with 20 firefighters were on the scene, some of whom were on other duty in Vila at the time.
Units of the Guardia Civil, Civil Protection, Sant Josep Local Police and 061 were also deployed, who quickly began evacuating people and then proceeded to extinguish the flames. In addition, residents of the area and passers-by also assisted in the evacuation. There were only a few minor injuries, who were treated and discharged at the scene for minor intoxication due to smoke inhalation, and one member of the fire brigade who slightly burnt his hand on one of the fryers in one of the burnt restaurants. The flames and heat also affected the outside area of a nearby hotel, where some palm trees and umbrellas were burnt.
At 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday, firefighters were still working in the area, even though the flames had already been extinguished. The work then focused on refreshing this area until, at 9.15 a.m., the fire was considered extinguished, according to sources from the fire brigade. Vicent Roig also said that the flames had spread to the protected dune behind, which was covered in scrubland.