Residents forced from their homes by the Benahavis wildfire can now return after firefighters brought the major blaze under control following a difficult 24 hours.

More than 300 hectares of woodland and scrub have been affected by the fire, which started near the Ermita del Rosario on Sunday afternoon and spread rapidly through steep terrain and strong easterly winds.

Around 50 people from Montemayor Alto were evacuated as the flames threatened areas where homes and forest meet. Residents of Montemayor and Benahavis Hills, together with the occupants of a property known as La Coja, were among those later given permission to return.

Andalucian emergency authorities said the fire was declared stabilised at around 7.30pm on Monday, allowing the operation to be scaled back to pre-emergency level.

More than 300 hectares affected by fire

Antonio Sanz, the Junta de Andalucia’s vice-president and regional minister for emergencies, said the progress represented an important stage in dealing with the blaze. Firefighters had spent the night working to stop the head of the fire from advancing, with heavy machinery used to protect Benahavis and nearby residential areas.

Monday’s operation involved around 200 personnel and a large fleet of aircraft and ground vehicles. The aerial response grew considerably during the day, with up to 16 aircraft involved at one stage.

Despite the improved situation, firefighters have not simply left the area. INFOCA crews are staying behind to check the perimeter, tackle hot spots and prevent the flames from starting again.

Three people injured in Benahavis fire

Three people were injured during the emergency. A 78-year-old man suffered burns to between 30 and 35 per cent of his body after trying to tackle the flames. He was taken to hospital in Malaga before being transferred to the burns unit at Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio in Seville.

A forest firefighter suffered a broken wrist in a fall, while another person received medical attention after inhaling smoke.

No homes were reported to have been destroyed, although emergency authorities reported some damage to outdoor features, including fences, terraces and access points.

A-7175 road reopened

The A-7175 road was also affected by the wildfire after being closed during the emergency. It was reopened overnight, helping residents who had been outside the municipality to get back home.

Fire behaviour was made more difficult by the combination of wind, steep slopes and the area’s numerous ravines and valleys. According to the technical analysis carried out by INFOCA, the flames spread quickly along ridges and slopes exposed to the wind.

Although the immediate danger to Benahavis residents has eased, INFOCA personnel will continue working at the scene until the fire is fully extinguished.

Police investigations now point to an initial blaze which broke out on the main road to Benahavis Village from what appears to be a stopped car moments before the alarm was officially raised.

#benahavis así ha empezado el incendio en Benahavís. Hemos avisado al 112 en ese momento pic.twitter.com/eBknt6AWRK

— mariareke 🐾✨ (@mariareke) September 13, 2026

Many residents in Spain assume they have to grit their teeth until 10pm, or even 11pm, before an inconsiderate neighbour’s racket becomes anything more than their own problem. Now, a Madrid property lawyer says that the clock-watching habit rests on a rule that simply does not exist. 

There is no single hour that makes noise illegal

Roberto Mangas, a lawyer and legal adviser to the Madrid College of Building Administrators (CAFMadrid), has moved to correct a persistent piece of folk wisdom about Spanish noise rules. There is no fixed national hour, he said, after which all neighbour noise automatically becomes something a resident can report.

The confusion often centres on a specific hour. Spain’s noise regulations set a reference night-time period running from 11pm to 7am for measuring acoustic quality and planning purposes. But that reference period is a technical tool for zoning and noise limits, not a blanket licence for neighbours to make as much noise as they like before or after those hours.

Being annoying is not the same as being illegal

Mangas draws a clear line between a nuisance and a breach of the rules. Irritating noise can disturb rest or daily life, he said, but not every annoyance on its own amounts to an infringement. Noise only becomes reportable when it exceeds acoustic limits or breaches the schedules and prohibitions that apply locally, not simply because a neighbour finds it irritating.

That also goes both ways. A baby crying occasionally, footsteps overhead or one noisy evening are unlikely to meet the ‘infringement’ bar on their own. However, persistent drilling, amplified music, repeated late-night parties or any unusually loud activity that keeps happening are a different matter, whatever time of day they occur. 

Why your town hall’s ordinance decides the real limits

Because the state only sets a general framework, Spain’s autonomous communities and individual town halls are free to set their own schedules, decibel limits and lists of banned activities through local ordinances, and these can vary considerably between neighbouring municipalities. Some coastal towns already enforce their own strict summer quiet hours that go beyond the national reference period. 

Anyone unsure which rules actually apply to their address is better off searching their town hall’s website for its ordenanza de ruido (noise ordinance), ordenanza de contaminación acústica (acoustic pollution ordinance) or ordenanza de convivencia ciudadana (civic co-existence ordinance), rather than relying on the common misconception of “I’m pretty sure they can do whatever they like until 11pm”.

What to do while the noise is happening

For a disturbance happening in the moment, Mangas recommends calling the Local Police rather than waiting it out. Officers who attend while the noise is still going on can witness it directly, identify its source and, where relevant, take a measurement or draw up an official record, which carries far more weight later than a resident’s own memory of events.

For anything more persistent, he suggests keeping a log of dates, times and duration, retaining recordings where they are lawfully made, noting any witnesses and holding on to police incident numbers or written reports. That evidence becomes essential if a dispute escalates towards mediation or the courts, and Euro Weekly News’ full guide to escalating a noisy-neighbour dispute sets out those next steps in more detail.

When the community itself can step in

Beyond the police, Spain’s Horizontal Property Law (Ley de Propiedad Horizontal) gives a community of owners its own route. Article 7.2 lets a building’s president demand the immediate end of any activity that is banned by the community’s own rules, damages the building or breaches general provisions on nuisance, unhealthy, harmful or dangerous conduct, acting either on their own initiative or at a resident’s request.

If the resident responsible ignores that demand, the president can seek authorisation from a duly convened owners’ meeting to bring a formal acción de cesación, a court action that can force the activity to stop, award damages and, in serious and repeated cases, bar the resident from using their home for up to three years. Spanish courts have already used this same law to order the owner of a persistently barking dog out of a property, so the power is not theoretical.

That three-year ban, rather than the clock on the wall, is the real threat a persistent noise problem in Spain can escalate to. So next time a neighbour’s excessive noise is recurring and breaches local rules, the ideal first step is to approach them with good intentions and speak to them in person to resolve the issue. However, if this proves unsuccessful, official advice is to keep a log of the disturbances and report them to the Local Police when possible.

The Costa Calida town of Puerto de Mazarron hosted an action-packed weekend of competitive water sports and endurance racing, with the second edition of the Phoenician Shipwreck Challenge, or the Desafío Pecio Fenicio, taking place at Playa del Puerto. The major sporting event, which took place on Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, gathered athletes of all age groups along the scenic Murcian coastline for two days of regional open-water swimming and thrilling aquathlon championships.

High-stakes racing in the open water: Mazarron welcomes a thrilling weekend of sport

The action kicked off on the afternoon of Saturday with the sixth stage of the Regional Open Water League, the Phoenician Shipwreck Challenge Open Water Swim. The event was open to both federated and non-federated swimmers, and offered 1-kilometre youth race as well as a 3-kilometre adult race. Aside from medals, the top three finishers earned cash prizes of €100, €50, and €25, respectively. During the event, the swimmers bulleted through the water in a thrilling display of sport, with friends and loved ones cheering them on from the sidelines.

Pushing limits in the regional aquathlon

On Sunday, the focus shifted to the Regional Aquathlon Championship, where athletes took on a 1,000-metre open-water swim, followed by a 5-kilometer run along the idyllic beachfront promenade. Athletes began competing from 9:30am, and showcased an incredible amount of grit, talent, and determination as they tackled this challenging, but rewarding, race.

Podium success and athletic perseverance: Mazarron celebrates a successful edition of the championships

Finally, the weekend concluded with an enthusiastic trophy ceremony at 12:30pm, honouring the top performers across all divisions.

With the successful turnout and exhausted, but beaming, athletes, the event proved to be a resounding success, showcasing not only Mazarron’s vibrant sports culture, but also its idyllic coastal setting.

“It’s not just a medal,” stated the Phoenician Shipwreck Challenge through its official Instagram. “It’s a memory of everything you’ve done to earn it. The training, the doubts, each stroke, each metre. [It’s a memory] of each moment that you decide to keep going, even though your legs beg you to stop.”