Fire controlled that has forced to evacuate one of the IRTA buildings at the UAB
The fire started outside the facilities and spread to the offices, but did not affect the laboratories
BarcelonaThe Generalitat Firefighters have declared the fire affecting the main building of the Animal Health Research Center (CReSA) facilities, belonging to IRTA (Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), under control. The fire burning the adjacent warehouse containing straw to feed the animals used for research has also been stabilized. The flames have not affected any person or animal. The fire has not affected either the laboratories or the biocontainment area, where the animals are located and where the complex's high security measures are in place to protect biological samples. In fact, IRTA has confirmed in a statement that there is no biosecurity risk related to this fire, as there has been no impact on the biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratory.
The Firefighters received the alert shortly after three in the afternoon and the building has already been evacuated, with no impact on the center's workers. In fact, the building's own workers left when the fire started and were already outside the facilities when the firefighters arrived. According to the Firefighters, the most plausible hypothesis is that the fire started in some bushes and spread rapidly inside the building through the open windows in the office area.
Preventing a forest fire
Once the haystack fire has been controlled, the firefighters' effort is now focused on ensuring that the thick column of fire does not turn the episode into a forest fire. Fifteen ground crews from the Firefighters are working on it and the extinction tasks are expected to last several hours.
The Director General of IRTA, Josep Usall, wanted to convey a message of "calmness", and assured that "the good news" is that the fire has not spread beyond the administrative area of the research center, while buildings 1 and 3, which house the animals and biological samples for research, have remained outside the reach of the flames.
The firefighters have divided the work into three sectors. Firstly, the interior of the main laboratory building. Secondly, the interior of one of the adjacent warehouses, which contains straw and has completely burned down. And finally, they are monitoring secondary hotspots that could spread to the forest mass very close to the research center.