ARCHIVED - Fire guts an abandoned building in Cieza which has been home to itinerant fruit pickers
No casualties reported as the former meat factory was unoccupied at the time
Firefighters were called out on Monday evening to an old meat processing plant in Cieza which has more recently been occupied by homeless people and foreign agricultural labourers, when a fire broke out on the premises. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported and it appears that there was no-one in the premises at the time.
The blaze was reported to the 112 emergency services coordination centre at approximately 21.00, and members of the regional fire brigade hurried to the scene near the local water treatment plant, where there are various abandoned buildings and unauthorized rubbish tips. While putting the flames out the firefighters saw that two “clandestine homes” had been destroyed, and it is supposed that they were regularly occupied during the fruit picking season by itinerant workers who live well below the poverty line.
The cause of the fire has not been established.