Alicante Town Hall will once again prohibit the lighting of bonfires and the practice of street drinking on the sand of its five beaches during the Noche de San Juan. The measure is being introduced to prevent safety problems caused by the waste generated during the celebrations. A similar restriction was deployed in 2025 with a police surveillance operation featuring nearly fifty officers. This operation aimed to block access to the sandy areas to prevent the ancient tradition, which causes difficulties for cleaning the swimming areas in the days that follow.
The ban aims to prevent sharp objects from being left in the sand, which can remain and cause injuries to beach users, as sand-screening cleaning machines cannot guarantee the 100% removal of such materials, including wood and glass. Consequently, the public will not be allowed to bring firewood or timber onto any part of the 21 kilometres of the city coastline to organise bonfires. Furthermore, access with bottles of alcohol or any other drink, including soft drinks, packaged in glass bottles will also be prohibited.
This restriction, which will be formalised in a decree in the coming days, has been applied in previous years, though it was not supervised as intensely as it was in 2025. This aligns with similar decisions made in other neighbouring municipalities, such as Elche. In other towns, specific areas have been set aside for fires during the night of 23rd to 24rd June.
Meanwhile, the build-up to the Fogueres festivities continues this weekend with various activities organised by the federation. These include safety briefings held on Saturday at 09:00 at the Porta Ferrisa municipal building, and the presentation of awards at 19:00 in the Marq gardens.
However, the event expected to draw the highest number of participants is the traditional rice competition on Sunday at Lo Morant park, where more than 7,000 people are anticipated to attend.
