Updated 10.30am with FKNK statement

Firefighters were battling until Sunday morning to put out a large grass fire in the Miżieb woodlands of northern Malta. 

Firefighters struggled to quell the flames.

The fire broke out on Saturday morning and firefighters reached the scene soon after receiving the first reports of smoke in the area. Several hours later, they were still working to contain the fire, whose smoke could be seen from kilometres away. 

A Civil Protection Department spokesperson said that the fire was practically under control on Sunday morning but they still had a unit on site at 6.30am on Sunday to ensure that it did not start spreading again.

Units had also been dispatched to Buskett on Saturday to put out a smaller grass fire there. 

A police force spokesperson told Times of Malta nobody was reported injured in the Miżieb fire. 

As the fire raged into Saturday afternoon, a resident of nearby Manikata said they could smell smoke and see lots of ash. 

"We're worried about the destruction it will cause the woodlands and biodiversity in the area," they told Times of Malta. 

The fire last night shot from St Paul's Bay. Photo: Christopher Buttigieg

In a statement, BirdLife Malta said Miżieb is one of the few areas with dense trees in our country and also serves as a resting place for various birds during migration and an ideal recreational place. 

BirdLife said it has already written to the Environment Minister to offer
its support in the regeneration process of this area.

“We are hoping that the damage is not as extensive as we are expecting after seeing footage of the ordeal,” BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said.

BirdLife said a mixture of water channels, training and education campaigns and a level of management and control is important to deal with such a problem. 

FKNK statement

In a statement on Sunday, the hunters’ federation, which runs the site, said members of its Miżieb sub-committee assisted firefighters and volunteers control the fire.

It said that around 40 tumoli of the area that caught fire had been cleaned up by volunteers in the past weeks. The volunteers had also pruned the trees on site.
It said that a police report has been filed since arson was suspected.

FKNK said it noted Birdlife’s statement and pointed out that it was the first time that the organisation was expressing sorrow at the damage at Miżieb, an area which had been subject to other fires and vandalism several times.

It said Birdlife’s reaction was strange and asked whether there were ulterior motives behind it.

FKNK said that no damage, vandalism or provocation would stop its members from continuing their work at the Miżieb and l-Aħrax reserves and it would continue to insist that all reserves should receive the necessary official surveillance and enforcement.

As of 7pm, the fire was still raging.