The delegate of the Spanish government in the Valencian Country, Pilar Bernabé, explained today that Seprona has ruled out natural causes such as lightning or similar at the point where the fire began, at the old Venta dels Bous. Although the investigation is just beginning, she stated that the fire was intentionally started, and that it could have been with a cigarette butt or a lighter. The Spanish Government Delegation and the Valencia City Council have coordinated to clarify the facts. The mayoress, María José Catalá, explained that they will soon begin to "upload to the Local Police information that residents have provided".

A fire in the Pujol inlet area, in El Saler, has alerted firefighters, who have had to evacuate Tower 1 of the Aparwaks urbanization as a precaution. Twelve firefighting units have been deployed there, joined by seven resources from the Generalitat, two from the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, and the UME. In addition, units from the Third Battalion of Intervention in Emergencies have left their base in Bétera to join the extinction missions of the forest fire.

The Barcelona Urban Guard has arrested a man for setting fire to several containers and now the police are investigating his alleged connection with the fire that burned 54 hectares of the Collserola Natural Park this week. As confirmed by municipal sources to ARA, the arrest took place on Wednesday morning, after witnesses pointed out that the suspect had intentionally set fire to several containers on Carrer Palamós, in the Prosperitat neighborhood, less than 2 kilometers from the point where the fire originated. The man has been released after appearing in court, where he exercised his right not to testify.

The neighborhoods of Barcelona that climb the Collserola mountain range are trying to return to normal after a night of uncertainty due to the fire declared on Tuesday. In Torre Baró, neighbors curiously approach the edge where the city turns into forest to see the consequences. A column of smoke warns that the fire is still active and the smell of ash still permeates everything, even though the firefighters have stabilized it hours ago and continue to wet the ground with aerial means to finish the job. In the evening, the firefighters declared the fire controlled. There are 54 hectares burnt.

A forest fire declared this Tuesday is burning in Collserola, north of Barcelona. The fire has generated special concern due to its proximity to several homes and has forced the precautionary evacuation of 35 residents from a frontline of houses in Torre Baró. None of those affected needed to stay overnight in a municipal facility.

The Civil Guard of Altea and the Local Police of La Nucia, in the demarcation of Alicante, have assisted a woman trapped in a fire in her home. The density of the smoke and the magnitude of the flames prevented the woman from leaving the home, and the officers managed to force the bars of a window, access the interior, and evacuate her while the firefighters arrived.

The Generalitat's Emergency Coordination Centre (CEE) has activated the red alert for high temperatures on the north and south coasts of Valencia, as well as on the north coast of Alicante. It has also activated the orange alert in the north and south interior of Valencia and in the interior and south coast of Alicante.

Often when we see old photos of mountain villages, there's something that catches our attention: there are far fewer trees than now. Indeed, until the mid-20th century, wood was the main fuel that heated houses and there was an entire economic sector dedicated to it. With the change in the energy paradigm and the introduction of fossil fuels and electricity, forests and wood ceased to be profitable, and the result is that the forest mass has multiplied to such an extent that it now occupies 70% of the territory in Catalonia. Less wood is consumed, and moreover, what is consumed is mostly from abroad, specifically 80%.

A member of the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) died this Sunday while participating in the operation to extinguish the fire declared on Monday in Las Peñas de Riglos (Huesca). According to the Efe agency, the man died as a result of a traffic accident during the work to put out the fire. The president of the government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, has conveyed his condolences to the lieutenant general of the UME, as reported by the Aragonese government.

A fire is burning in the lungs of Barcelona, on the Collserola mountain. A large contingent of the Barcelona Firefighters and the Generalitat are working to extinguish the fire, which started around 3:25 PM in the part of the massif located between the Catalan capital and Esplugues de Llobregat. Emergency teams had requested the preventive confinement of the Can Caralleu neighborhood, a measure that has now been lifted. In parallel, the Guàrdia Urbana located and arrested a person in the vicinity of the fire, after detecting suspicious behavior and speaking with witnesses. The individual has been transferred to police facilities pending the outcome of the investigation, now in the hands of the Agents Rurals.

This summer has already left a series of human tragedies and on the landscape that invite us to think about the material conditions of our time. Thermodynamic and geological phenomena – such as high temperatures that force us to re-adapt to the environment, or the spiral of fires across the sub-European territory – and social dramas such as the massive flows of migrants arriving from Africa – and xenophobic reactions, this summer in Ceuta, last summer in Torre Pacheco – overlap in space and time. It is the time of heat and scarcity of the Earth.

The forest fire in Tírig, in the Alt Maestrat region, has been controlled by emergency services after four days of intense work and several meetings by the Cecopi, attended by the Minister of Emergencies and Interior, Juan Carlos Valderrama; the Government's delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, and the President of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca.

The situation with the fires continues without pause. A forest fire in Tírig, Castelló, with about 700 hectares affected, is mobilizing dozens of personnel after a day with simultaneous fires in the area, most of them caused by lightning. Another fire in Niebla, Huelva, which already affects 8,000 hectares and has left a balance of about 400 people evacuated, is also of particular concern. The fire causes a column of smoke visible from various points in the provinces of Huelva and Seville.

The fire of Occitania, the most serious recorded in France since 1949, has become a warning about the challenges posed by large forest fires when they approach urban areas. Now stabilized, the fire has ravaged over 16,000 hectares and has advanced to within just fifteen kilometers of the Occitan city's metropolitan area. This fire, added to the one that a few days ago affected the Community of Madrid and Avila, reinforces a question that is gaining more and more strength in a context of climate emergency: is Catalonia prepared to face a major fire on the outskirts of a city? What changes when the flames leave behind the more distant forest areas and threaten inhabited neighborhoods, essential infrastructure, and thousands of people?

The Consorci de Bombers de València (València Firefighters Consortium) has acted in a housing fire on Andrés Montalva street, in the Valencian town of Alberic, following a notice received at 2:56 AM this morning.

We only worry about forest fires when impactful images reach us through televisions or mobile devices and social networks. We have learned now, but it has taken a long time, that climatic conditions will largely define the forecast of the day's fire. We also know that the number of days that meet the conditions for large fires has increased considerably due to climate change, and that if previously the speed of propagation was below 2 kilometers per hour, now we can see a fire advance at 17 kilometers per hour.

Marc Castellnou (Tivissa, 1972) is the head of the GRAF of the Generalitat Firefighters. He is considered an international expert on how to tackle fires; especially large fires. And for this reason he moved to Madrid while the largest fire in Spain – at least since records began – continued to burn out of control. After frantic days – he admits he didn't even have time to share impressions with his colleagues – he returned to Catalonia this Wednesday. "The season is not over yet", recalls Castellnou, who is speaking to ARA just after leaving Madrid. With what feelings does he/she return to Catalonia?

It's three o'clock and we've just made the paella with my father in Borriana. Sara and I look at each other and decide that the moment has arrived, both awaited and feared, to head towards Artana and see with our own eyes how our home is and how burnt the surroundings are. Artana has been, along with Eslida, the village in the Espadà mountain range that has suffered the longest evacuation: a week, from Saturday midday to Friday night. Today is Saturday and we think that most of the inhabitants will have returned by now. Although the start of the fire caught us away, we've been talking with friends and neighbours all week, and that's why we know the houses are fine. But we're afraid of what we'll find. It's one thing to see it on TV and another to see it yourself.

There is debate about when human control of fire began. For hundreds of thousands of years there were only flames due to natural fires caused by lightning or volcanoes. But a day came when our ancestors were able to take fire from nature and maintain and transport it, although not yet produce it. This semi-appropriation must have happened between one million and 790,000 years ago. Scientists do not agree. Perhaps someone remembers the hypnotic film Quest for Fire (1981), by Jean-Jacques Annaud.The mastery of fire –the generation of fire by rubbing wood or striking stones– fully entered human societies 50,000 years ago. That is a lot and not so much. It was a fabulous technological revolution. Since then, we have been able to cook –and greatly improve our diet–, warm ourselves, light ourselves at night, better protect ourselves from all kinds of beasts and enemies, forge metal... Also to wage war more brutally among ourselves.

A large wildfire is keeping dozens of firefighters mobilized this Thursday in Suffolk, a rural county in eastern England (East Anglia), northeast of London and with a coast on the North Sea. The affected area, Dunwich Heath, is near Leiston, about 130 kilometers from the British capital, and is only about six kilometers from the Sizewell B nuclear power plant, one of the UK's main energy facilities, which generates 3% of the country's electricity.