The VOX Provincial Group has registered a motion at the Diputación de Málaga to halt and prevent the closure of the Manilva fire station. VOX stresses the strategic importance of this emergency service for a population which, including the municipalities of Manilva and Casares, exceeds 50,000 inhabitants in total.
VOX also points out that the official operational data for 2024 confirm the importance of the fire station, with a total of 33 critical emergencies attended in 2024, 15 of them structural fires and 18 road traffic accidents.
According to the spokesperson for the VOX Provincial Group, Antonio Luna, «these figures demonstrate the need to maintain a service that is essential for Manilva and Casares».
VOX also recalls that, although the technical reports drawn up by the Health and Safety Committee of the Fire Consortium indicate that there are deficiencies in the current facilities of the Manilva fire station, these, according to the Andalusian Firefighters’ Union itself, do not pose a risk to the lives of the workers and can be remedied, especially since the Town Hall has made other premises available to improve the current ones.
On the other hand, the Technical Director’s report reveals that moving the fire service to Estepona would mean response times of at least 20 minutes to the most populated areas of Manilva and San Luis de Sabinillas, thus contradicting the Provincial Fire Consortium’s own action plan, which establishes that «no municipality of more than 1,000 inhabitants can be more than 20 minutes from a fire station».
Finally, the fact that in more than 50% of the 33 critical emergencies attended in 2024 immediate support was requested from the Estepona fire station shows the necessary coordination between the two services and the importance of maintaining an immediate first response from Manilva.
For all these reasons, with its motion, VOX proposes that the Manilva fire station remain operational; that alternative solutions be sought to address the deficiencies identified in the technical reports, without compromising the continuity of the service; and that this agreement be forwarded to the town halls of Manilva and Casares and to the union representatives of the Provincial Fire Consortium.
