The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), the Generalitat Fire Department, and residents of Vilanova de Bellpuig are searching for a man who disappeared this Wednesday in the same town in the Pla d'Urgell region. His name is Ramon Carulla Argilés, he is 46 years old, and he lives in Vilanova de Bellpuig. Specifically, Carulla is the builder who was renovating the house. which collapsed on WednesdayThe collapse left four people injured, two of them seriously.

The room is filled with screens. They display footage from cameras along some of the country's major highways, but above all, there are four aerial maps: one of Catalonia, one of the metropolitan area, one of Barcelona, and one of the airport. Various symbols appear, such as blue dots, red zones, and red dots. These represent installed drone detectors, protected airspace zones, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) currently in flight. All of this is located in the central command room of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), at the Egara Central Complex, enabling them to detect everything passing overhead. Often invisible to the naked eye, imperceptible to the ear, drones represent a "new challenge for the security of Catalonia." The head of the Mossos, Josep Maria Estela, explains that until a few years ago, police work focused primarily on the ground. But the emergence of drones, among other devices, has forced them to look to the skies: "We have adapted to this new reality to face threats ranging from the protection of critical infrastructure to large crowds," says the commissioner. To this end, five years ago they launched Project Kuppel, a pioneering plan based on a NATO-approved system, which creates a kind of protective dome over Catalan airspace to detect drones flying over the country and even disable them if they pose a threat—although this is the final stage. "The goal is to have more antennas; they are our eyes on the ground," Estela affirms. Currently, there are several in Barcelona—such as at the Sagrada Família and Camp Nou—and at the airport. Every drone flying near these locations is detected, and its registration, altitude, and the location of the operator can be determined.

The death of a colleague during a performance, an incident with multiple victims, an accident involving children, a very long service, or a serious work-related injury. These are some of the points that appear in the well-known Terrible Ten, an American ranking of the main critical incidents that firefighters can experience. This list is used in Catalonia, and if any of the Generalitat's firefighters experience one of these situations, they must go to the force's own psychological support service. This team is unknown to the general public, but is involved in many emergency operations.

Marc Castellnou, chief inspector of the Forestry Action Reinforcement Group (GRAF) of the Generalitat Fire Brigade, is surely one of the greatest fire experts in Catalonia and the world. He is attending to the ARA at the 112 center in Reus, after a July with many and increasingly violent fires and before an August that is also expected to be complicated.

More than seventy personnel, with six air units and 19 ground units, have been working in Sant Pere Sallavinera (Anoia) to extinguish the fourth active fire this afternoon in Catalonia. The fire has burned approximately 130 hectares and was stabilized at 9:30 p.m. The flames began burning cereal crops, but are also affecting many forest areas. There are some isolated farmhouses in the area, and due to their proximity to the fire, the emergency services have recommended the containment of these properties, which are located between Sant Pere Sallavinera, Aguilar de Segarra, and Fonollosa. Once the fire was stabilized, the containment has been lifted.

Two simultaneous fires have been affecting the regions of Segarra, Noguera, and Urgell since Tuesday afternoon. According to firefighters, the fires have caused the deaths of two people. They have also forced residents of nine municipalities with a total of more than 20,000 inhabitants to remain under lockdown. The Generalitat (Catalan Government) firefighters managed to stabilize the fires well into the night, allowing the nine towns to be released from lockdown.

Another complicated day for the firefighters, with several fires raging simultaneously and in different locations. While they were trying to extinguish the resurgence of the blaze that devastated 472 hectares in Segarra on Saturday, two more fires broke out, one in Noguera, and the Solsonès residents are being evacuated by helicopters.

The Generalitat's Civil Protection Department has sent a mobile alert to residents of Cervera and Granyena de la Segarra using the EsAlert system, ordering them to self-isolate due to the forest fire raging this Saturday in the Segarra region. Confinement has also been ordered in the municipalities of Granyanella, Fonolleres, and La Curullada. According to initial investigations, the fire started in a vehicle in Granyena de la Segarra and spread to the surrounding fields. It also affected a small portion of the forest. The flames have affected approximately 347 hectares of land, according to the initial estimate by the Agents Rurals (Rural Agents), and have forced the complete closure of the A-2 between Cervera and Tàrrega.

The Catalan police (Mossos d'Esquadra) and the Catalan Fire Brigade are searching the Tossa de Mar area of La Selva for a 24-year-old British man who disappeared in the United Kingdom on April 30, 22 days ago. According to police sources, the Catalan police received a request from Interpol reporting that the young man could be on the Costa Brava, specifically between Tossa de Mar and Sant Feliu de Guíxols. His parents detected that his cell phone was located in that area.

With the blackout The power cuts arrived. Service coverage vanished. Thousands of people were trapped, especially on trains and in elevators. Traffic lights went dark, with the risk of a collision at any intersection. And at Fire Brigade headquarters, fear quickly began to emerge: "The question was: 'Are people calling us? Are calls coming in to 112?'" says David Borrell, Chief Inspector of the Generalitat Fire Brigade. He admits that "certainly" some calls didn't come in, but they have no evidence of any risky situations being missed. The Deputy Director of Civil Protection, Imma Solé, agrees, stating that a widespread inability to contact the emergency line was not detected.

This Thursday morning, aspiring firefighters from the Catalan government gathered outside the headquarters of the Catalan emergency service in Bellaterra to demand that their salary be the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) for the duration of their training. According to them, this period lasts eight months, and they are required to be available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Training begins in May, and there is increasingly less time to obtain it. "Most of the applicants are over thirty and have financial burdens," lament the platform's spokespersons. In fact, they explain that in 2023, a union agreement was signed with the Ministry of the Interior that included this salary equalization within a two-year period, but it has not been implemented. The reason? The Catalan government argues that it was included in the new budget for 2025, which was ultimately not approved, and that is why the measure has been dropped. A meeting was held this Thursday morning, which ended without an agreement, according to the applicants.

It was half past eight in the evening when the Generalitat Firefighters received the notice of a fire in a house on Maria Montessori Street in Lleida. Three people were evacuated in critical condition, and a third is in a less serious condition after managing to get out on their own. According to police sources, it was an occupied house that was often conflictive, and the last of the conflicts occurred a few hours before the fire, with a fight in the same location. This has started to make the Mossos d'Esquadra suspicious, who have become even more suspicious when they found possible traces of flammable liquid in the fire. Right now, the main hypothesis is that the fire, which could have had a tragic ending, was caused by arson.

After intense work last night, the Fire Service has been able to consider the fire which started yesterday between Peramola and Oliana, in the Alt Urgell to be stable by 7.35 am. There was concern as it was advancing in a mountainous area, and it has affected 123 hectares, according to the latest count by Forest Rangers. This means some units have been freed up and redeployed to other areas: since Wednesday there have been 229 wildfires in Catalonia, including the one that continues to cause the most concern: Baldomar, in Artesa de Segre, which has already burnt 2,419.47 hectares. Catalan Home Affairs minister Joan Ignasi Elena has told RAC1 that the Fire Service "is working very hard" and that it hoped to be able to stabilise the fire during the day. The efforts are now focused on a "small" section at the head of the fire, on the west flank.

Almost 1,700 hectares in Catalonia are on fire, distributed in three fires in Corbera d'Ebre (Terra Alta), Artesa de Segre (Noguera) and Castellar de la Ribera (Solsonès) which on Thursday continued to wreak havoc in the area. The weather is not helping: neither the heat reaching maximum temperatures, nor the dry storms, nor the lightning, which have strengthened the fire overnight. Above all, the firefighters are concerned about the Solsonès fire, because, although it has only burnt about 350 hectares so far, it is the one which could potentially get out of control: "If it gets complicated we could have a big forest fire," said the operational head of the Fire Service, David Borrell. On the other hand, the Terra Alta fire is practically stabilised, although it is still active. The fire in Artesa de Segre will continue burning for hours, since firefighters have chosen to create a barriers around 5,000 hectares and let the fire burn out at its own pace within this area. With three fires still burning and with a weather that favors the appearance of more fires, forest rangers have activated level 2 of Plan Alfa in 27 counties in Catalonia. Certain activities susceptible to cause forest fires will be restricted and, in addition, Presidency minister Laura Vilagrà has warned that the Catalan Government is considering "closing natural parks" this summer due to the risk of fires.

"We should no longer talk about a summer campaign, because the risk of fires, as a result of climate change, is all year round," says Catalan Home Affairs minister Joan Ignasi Elena. Yet on Wednesday Elena presented the Fire Service's plan for this summer, repeating the warning he gave at the beginning of May: "We face one of the toughest and longest campaigns in recent years". This Wednesday, for example, up to 55 firefighters three fires. Elena warned of the persistence of high temperatures and dryness due to lack of rain makes the danger "evident".

Three people died and a fourth was critically injured after a fire broke out last night at a residential building in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, with three more suffering minor injuries. As reported by the city council, the fire broke out at a building on Sant Joaquim street and the firefighters, who sent in ten teams, have already extinguished the flames. Eduard Martinez, the head of the Fire Service of the northern metropolitan region, explained to RAC1 that when they arrived they found a fire burning with two simultaneous outbreaks: one on the ground floor (in the metre room) and another in the second.

The case of alleged irregular tendering at the Fire Department is not the first judicial proceedings for corruption faced by the Sevillian company Iturri, already convicted in a case of commissions in exchange for awards from the City Council of Telde (Canary Islands) and also investigated in another case of alleged corruption in Palma ten years ago. Nor is it the first time in court for the current manager of Iturri in Catalonia, who was already convicted in this case in Palma. According to a sentence to which ARA has had access, he took six months in prison for having paid €120,300 to former head of Emergencies of Jaume Matas's Balearic government, Joan Pol, for some consultancy work.

The saga of the maintenance service of the Generalitat Fire Department's vehicles continues. While the 14th Court of Instruction of Barcelona maintains the investigation for alleged corruption, the Department of Home Affairs has stopped the new tender which sought to fix the irregularities of the past. As ARA has been able to confirm, the Department has announced that the tender – which was in the bidding phase and had not yet been awarded – is on hold because of the bid submitted by Iturri, the company that has so far always provided this service and which the judge is also investigating. Home Affairs says that Iturri has made a "disproportionate" proposal that represents an "imbalance" and that might be decisive to obtain the contract.

Since two o'clock noon Bombers of the Generalitat (Catalan Government's Firefighters) work in extinguishing a forest fire burning in the Pobla de Massaluca, Terra Alta. The fire has been declared near the river Matarranya, shortly before it flows into the Ebre. 32 ground crews and 11 aerial firefighters, two seaplanes of the Spanish government and members of the Aragonese firefighters are working on this fire. As a preventive measure, the campsite Port Massaluca has been evacuated. The evacuees have been moved to the sports center of the municipality of Faió. Adif has also been asked to remove the voltage from the train line that passes through the area: there are no convoys in this section.