More than 70 firefighters are working on a blaze in Anoia, in another day of simultaneous blazes.
This year's summer has already seen the most burned land in the last 15 years.
BarcelonaFirefighters are attempting to extinguish the fourth active blaze this afternoon in Catalonia. More than seventy personnel, with six aerial crews and 19 ground crews, are working in Sant Pere Sallavinera (Anoia) on a fire that has already burned approximately 30 hectares. The flames began burning cereal crops, but are also affecting extensive forestry. The fire has produced a significant column of smoke, and extinguishing efforts are progressing very favorably on the right flank, affecting a cereal field, while the left flank and the head of the fire, toward the forest area, are the priority. There are some isolated farmhouses in the area, and due to their proximity to the fire, the emergency services have recommended containment of these properties, which are located between Sant Pere Sallavinera, Aguilar de Segarra, and Fonollosa.
The beginning of this summer is already the one with the highest number of hectares burned at this point since at least 2010, when the Rural Agents' records began, published this Tuesday by the ACN. Including the provisional balance of 3,173 hectares from the Paüls fire, 9,422 hectares have burned in Catalonia since June 1—the start of the forest fire season—to date. This exceeds the 6,576 hectares that had been burned by this date in 2019, the year with the greatest impact until the first week of July.
Furthermore, the start of this summer's forest fire season already accounts for more than half of the area burned during the entire summer of 2012, the worst since the 1990s, when 17,922 hectares were burned, including forest and agricultural areas. So far this summer, 161 wildfires have been recorded, the second highest number this century until July 7, surpassed only by 2005.
More active fires
The first alert of the afternoon was very close to Paüls, where a fire has been burning since yesterday and has already scorched more than 3,100 hectares. This afternoon, another fire is affecting a forested area in Puig Moltó. Firefighters received the alert at 4:30 a.m. from a point near the N-340 highway, next to Perelló. From there, a column of white smoke was visible, and firefighters dispatched seven crews to respond to this blaze.
After approximately an hour of work, firefighters managed to surround the fire, and the helicopter completed its airdrops. However, given the dense forest in the area, they expect they will have to work "for a very long time."
Firefighters also had to work on a fire in Tremp that burned 5.5 hectares, mainly agricultural land. Seven crews from the force had to deploy to an area of cultivated fields in Palau de Noguera. Fortunately, in this case, the fire—which affected crops and partially impacted a green area—quickly subsided. According to Rural Agents, the main hypothesis for the fire's origin is a power line.
