In partnership with
THE WAYPOINT SUR
Where a scare officially ends
Four things failed this week's checking. Málaga was not "the only province in Spain" where registered unemployment fell in August. It was one of three reporting areas nationally, and the only province in Andalucía.
The Benahavís fire, which left a 78-year-old man with serious burns, a firefighter with a wrist injury and another person treated for smoke inhalation, was not fought with "five aircraft at the peak". We wish all three well.
Five aircraft stayed on after it was stabilised; 22 aircraft and more than 300 personnel took part by the Monday. A cause circulating in English-language press has no official source, so we are not repeating it.
And a correction we were ready to print about our own 14 September issue was itself wrong: our count of 64 confirmed cases across Andalucía on 7 September was right, in a season that has since cost three lives. One claim got stronger: "third August running", a press line, now has the official series behind it.
What the survivors share is a document. The Junta de Andalucía, the regional government, moves an ended West Nile alert to a list headed Finalizadas — ended.
INFOCA, the regional wildfire service, logs the hour a fire is controlled. SEPE, the national employment service, publishes the provincial register.
Knowing which document closes which story lets you put a finished worry down. Each record establishes one change, not that every risk behind it is over.
Málaga's registered unemployment fell for the third August running
At 31 August, 97,095 people were registered as unemployed in Málaga province: 409 fewer than at the end of July and 11,634 fewer than a year earlier, a 10.7% fall. Confirmed September 2026.
Andalucía's register rose by 3,394 and Spain's by 44,419. Only Málaga, Ceuta and Las Palmas fell, and Málaga's was the largest fall in absolute numbers.
The Junta's own series shows August falls of 499 in 2024, 136 in 2025 and 409 this year.
The limit: this counts people registered at public employment offices, not everyone out of work, and it does not show that 409 people found jobs. Contracts registered in Málaga during August fell by about a third on July, to 42,057, though still 4% above last August.
September's figures are due on Friday 2 October. The register rose every September from 2016 to 2025, so a rise is the base case.
West Nile: one confirmed case in Málaga province through 18 September, and a regional list thinning on the record
Andalucía has recorded three deaths from West Nile virus this season, the most recent an 81-year-old man from Tomares, near Sevilla, infected in Mazagón in Huelva. Our sympathies to all three families.
The Junta counted 65 confirmed cases across Andalucía on 18 September. Málaga province has one, in Pizarra, first listed on 3 September. Confirmed September 2026.
Across Andalucía, 31 municipalities were in alert on 11 September and 25 by 17 September, each exit named under Finalizadas with its date. On 18 September La Rambla, in Córdoba province, took the count back to 26.
Málaga's own map did not shrink between 11 and 18 September. Three areas remained: Pizarra (to 1 October), Alhaurín de la Torre (to 2 October) and the urban area of Cártama, which was due to end on 22 September.
An alert ends on the Junta's administrative finding that there is no new sign of circulation and the required measures were taken, not automatically, and an ending does not mean the mosquitoes have gone. Standing water and dusk-to-dawn exposure still matter.
If you live in the Guadalhorce valley inland from Málaga city, where all three alert areas sit, our guide to West Nile alert areas in Málaga province sets out the listed towns, how an alert ends and the household levers.
Our homework on our 14 September issue. Fuengirola and the Las Lagunas area of Mijas came off alert on 21 August; we said 25 August, and "Mijas". Andalucía's 2025 season had four confirmed cases and one probable; we said four.
A confirmed human case also triggers an alert, whatever the distance.
An alert's first four weeks run from the Junta's confirmation, but extensions run from the positive sample date, so our "not the trap-sampling date" holds only for the first period. We cannot source the 11 December 2025 date we gave for last season's final alert, so we withdraw it.
Benahavís: controlled at 19:00 on Thursday 17 September
The Junta reported on Sunday 13 September that the 78-year-old, burned over 30-35% of his body, was evacuated by medical helicopter and taken first to Málaga, then to Sevilla's burns unit. The firefighter was from INFOCA; the smoke-inhalation patient was treated at the scene.
The first 112 call came at 12:37 on Sunday 13 September, near the Ermita del Rosario in Benahavís, in the hills behind Marbella and Estepona. On Monday the confinement was lifted, the fire was stabilised, and evacuees from Montemayor, La Coja and Benahavís Hills were allowed home.
Part of the perimeter flared again on Wednesday.
At 19:00 on Thursday, about four and a quarter days after the first call, INFOCA recorded the fire controlado — controlled, perimeter contained, not yet out.
The Junta's provisional figure is 329 hectares of pine and scrub. No homes were affected, the Junta said on the Sunday. It had not been declared extinguished by 18 September.
On 27 August we covered the ES-Alert settings on your phone. Benahavís showed the network side: a telephone antenna was damaged, and the news agency EFE reported the lost coverage may have kept the alert off some phones.
The authorities also warned people with staff on the ground and on social media. Correct phone settings cannot repair an antenna. That is what your town hall's own warning channels are for.
One more piece of good news, and this one's ours
Our residency renewal check takes your permit type and card expiry date and returns your renewal window in real dates, your document list where verified and, for non-lucrative residence, your household's income threshold.
It fully covers the Withdrawal Agreement card in both forms, non-lucrative residence and long-term residence.
For work and family permits it gives the window, routes and duration, and stops at documents.
It finds no official basis for the widely quoted €80,000, and puts a couple's non-lucrative threshold at €72,000 over 24 months. This is its first public mention.
Spanish-lite
Paro registrado — registered unemployment.
Extinguido — extinguished, fully out.
The bottom line
Three September worries now have an official record marking a change: a falling register, a thinning regional alert list, a fire controlled in just over four days. The next checks are the 2 October registered-unemployment release, Cártama's record after 22 September and the fire's extinguishment declaration.
Enjoy the weekend — A. and the WaypointSur team, reading the small print on the all-clear.
Water Alone Won't Hydrate You This Fall
Cooler air, indoor heating, and shorter days can leave you dehydrated even when you're drinking plenty of water. That's because true hydration depends on electrolytes, not just water.
Pique's Deep Hydration Protocol pairs two formulas for round-the-clock hydration. B·T Fountain is a beauty electrolyte with clinically studied ceramides and hyaluronic acid, taken each morning for cellular hydration and steady energy. R·E Fountain follows at night — a calming magnesium blend built on Pique's proprietary Triple Biomaxed™ Magnesium for restful sleep.
Customers on this protocol report falling asleep faster, waking up without that groggy, dehydrated feeling, and noticing healthier-looking skin. This protocol sells out every fall — once it's gone, it's gone until next year.
Get 20% off for life right now, backed by Pique's 90-day guarantee. Shop the Deep Hydration Protocol before it sells out.
