On Friday, 10 July, Antonio Sanz, regional minister for the Presidency, Health and Emergencies and director of Andalusia’s Forest Fire Emergency Plan (Plan Infoca), deactivated the emergency phase, operational situation 1, at 9:39 p.m. The phase had been activated at 5:30 p.m. the previous day in response to a wildfire in Benahavís, Málaga province. The plan remains active at the pre-emergency phase, operational situation 0, after the fire was declared stabilised following hours of intensive work.
The 2,053 people evacuated as a precaution returned to their homes in stages. They included 1,013 residents of Los Flamingos, 687 of Parque Botánico, 96 residents of the Four Seasons apartments, 132 people from Marbella Hills and 125 from the Caserías del Esperonal area. The confinement order was also lifted for 370 residents of the Montemayor development. A crew of 40 personnel, three firefighting water tenders and the Forest Fire Medical Unit remained at the scene to complete extinguishing the fire.
Emergency coordination centre EMA 1-1-2 handled nearly 300 calls about the fire. The first calls, at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, reported a fire that had started on the shoulder of the AP-7 near kilometre 1068 and spread into a wooded area near Montemayor.
The emergency coordination centre alerted Infoca’s Provincial Operations Centre, the Andalusian Emergency Group, fire services from Málaga provincial council and the municipalities of Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas and Benalmádena, the Civil Guard, local police in Estepona and Benahavís, the National Police and its regional-unit officers, road maintenance services, the Red Cross, the 061 Emergency Health Centre and Civil Protection volunteer groups from Marbella and Estepona. A primary-care urgent response unit from San Pedro de Alcántara was mobilised.
Benahavís sports pavilion was made available as accommodation for anyone who needed it. The Red Cross set up 50 beds; most evacuees instead stayed with relatives or friends, or in local hotels. The fire also disrupted traffic: the AP-7 was closed for several hours between kilometres 1054 and 1070 in the direction of Cádiz to allow emergency crews to work. Operations were coordinated from an Advanced Command Post deployed by the Andalusian Emergency Group at Llano de la Ermita.