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.

"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".

The Diari Oficial de la Generalitat (DOGC) will publish in the next few hours several restrictions that will come into force this afternoon due to the risk of fires caused by the heat wave arriving in Catalonia. It is predicted to be the worst week in terms of fire danger in the country in the last 18 years. The measures will be applied in half of the country, in the 24 regions where the danger is higher: Bages, Anoia, Baix Llobregat, Vallès Oriental, Alt Penedès, Vallès Occidental, Noguera, Tarragonès, Osona, Baix Penedès, Priorat, Moianès, Maresme, Segrià, Solsonès, Pallars Jussà, Alt Urgell, Garraf, Alt Camp, Terra Alta, Barcelonès, Berguedà, Segarra and Ribera d'Ebre. There are 279 municipalities where camping, hiking and sporting activities will be banned for five days, as long as the heat wave is expected to last.