The government acknowledges that the Els Ports Natural Park does not have a fire prevention plan after the CUP (Council of Public Unity) warned about this deficiency following the Paüls forest fire. Territori sources point out that this plan should have been in place 39 years ago, according to Decree 78/1986, which establishes that natural areas of special protection must develop a basic fire prevention plan. They assert that the government is working with the Directorate General of Forests, within the Department of Agriculture, and has even transferred the authority to it to initiate it. They also emphasize that this government does not want to "enter into accusations," but rather to "guarantee the preservation of biodiversity and fire prevention."
The lockdown in Paüls is lifted after the fire in Baix Ebre has been stabilized.
Firefighters will work through the night to identify hot spots with drones and declare the fire under control.
BarcelonaOnce the worst is over, and with the improvement in weather conditions, this Tuesday afternoon the Firefighters declared the situation stabilized. perimeter of the forest fire in Baix EbreThe last of the remaining home confinement measures have also been lifted, and residents of Paül are now allowed to leave their homes, three days after the proximity of the flames and ash forced them to remain indoors. Earlier this morning, Public Protection had already authorized the lifting of the restrictions. mobility restrictions in other municipalities and decentralized entities affected. In total, the fire has kept 18,000 residents at home.
The Generalitat Fire Department has conveyed a message of "calm" for the coming hours because the perimeter of the fire has not changed in recent hours and the two difficult-to-access points where work has only been possible manually have also been stabilized: one in the north of Paüls and another in the area of Les de Portú.
Between tonight and tomorrow morning, 30% of the deployed personnel will be withdrawn, and if the weather conditions continue, they hope to be able to move on to the fire control phase on Thursday afternoon or early evening. "We are in no hurry. We are proceeding in order. We are stabilizing the situation, and to control it, we will probably have to spend all day tomorrow," said the head of the Fire Department's intervention, Joan Rovira, in statements to the press from the fire control center.
However, Rovira has indicated that the guard cannot be lowered yet and has reported that throughout tonight the troops will be working on the ground to soak the affected area. In addition, drones with thermal cameras capable of capturing "hot spots that may be latent or dormant" and that could rekindle and worsen the situation, he explained.
According to a provisional count, the fire has burned 3,321 hectares, mostly forest land, of which 1,125 hectares are part of the Els Ports Natural Park. However, authorities believe the final figure could easily be lower, since much of the cropland previously thought devastated has been saved.
At this point, fourteen firefighter units have been deactivated, the reinforcements provided by the Aragon government and half of the GRAF personnel have been withdrawn. Barring any last-minute surprises, the entire UME (Union of Emergency Medical Services) is expected to leave at 8 a.m. Thursday morning to work to extinguish the flames.
The area's difficult terrain and the weather conditions experienced on Monday and Tuesday allowed the flames, which uprooted Paüls, to spread very quickly. Fortunately, this Wednesday, the storm forecasts didn't materialize; the wind calmed, and light showers even arrived, helping the firefighters.
According to the fire department, the work done this morning was effective and allowed them to work to consolidate the fire's perimeter. This meant that 90% of the fire could be considered stabilized by this morning, and a few hours later, the entire perimeter. Despite the lifting of the lockdown, Rural Agents Sub-Inspector Xavier Gilabert has urged the public to be cautious with mobility and urged them to "wait a bit until the situation improves."
The investigation is ongoing.
Gilabert explained that the Rural Agents and the Mossos d'Esquadra have created an investigation group to jointly clarify the origin of the fire. Speaking to reporters, he emphasized that the investigation is "very complex," but that they have already managed to narrow down the area to between one and two hectares where the fire is believed to have started.
While waiting for the investigation to provide more details, Gilabert revealed that the fire started in a forested area that is relatively easily accessible and that it is believed to be at one end of the blaze. "Right now there is no probable cause; we will have to look at many things and rule out many others," he emphasized.
A priori, the hypothesis of lightning seems ruled out, because it has not rained in the area nor had there been any dry storms. And it also doesn't seem feasible, in Gilabert's opinion, that the cause could have been agricultural machinery, as in the Segarra fire, because in this area "there are no such crops." However, beyond these notes, the head of the Rural Agents has referred to the scheme of the delimitation of the work area to find the causes and has not ventured any hypothesis.
On the other hand, the chief inspector of the GRAF, Marc Castellnou, has explained that the 3,300 hectares affected by the fire are equivalent to 60% of the most optimistic scenario that the emergency corps was playing with. He also indicated that the fire is going to start with a pyrocumulus cloudbut in the toughest phase, it didn't reach sixth-generation fires, although it was extreme. He also indicated that the firefighters had to face some of the toughest working conditions they had ever encountered in any fire in Catalonia. Regarding the atmospheric conditions, they compare it to fires in Arizona.
In 1993, a similar fire broke out in Moleta de Alfara, within the perimeter of Els Ports, which also descended to the river. Castellnou, however, stressed that the difference with that one is that, back then, "most of the crops around the Xerta-Càlig canal were worked, but now they aren't." The firefighters have repeatedly pointed to the loss of rural land as one of the causes contributing to the spread of fires, reports ACN.