First preventive evacuations due to the Aiguamúrcia fire

BarcelonaCivil Protection has ordered the first preventive evacuations this Monday due to the fire in Aiguamúrcia, in l'Alt Camp. An ES-Alert message has asked residents of Ranxo Bonany, Can Llenes, Can Joan de la Costa, and les Cases Romanill, in the municipality of Querol, to leave their homes in an orderly manner. In any case, they emphasize that there is no imminent danger from the advance of the flames and expect that the evacuees will be able to return to their homes in the evening. The rest of the areas affected by the fire remain confined. Civil Protection has asked the evacuated residents to take their documentation, medications, and pets with them, and to leave their houses and windows closed. People who do not have a vehicle will receive transport from emergency teams.

The fire, declared on Sunday afternoon in Aiguamúrcia, has already affected almost 114.8 hectares of the Vall de l'Infern, remains active, and has the potential to burn a thousand hectares. The fire had forced about 2,500 people from Aiguamúrcia, la Llacuna, Pontons, Querol, and Torrelles de Foix to be confined, and firefighters are working to prevent the flames from reaching the Bonany area.

This week, marked by a heatwave that has favored the spread of fires across the country, two other fires had already been declared in this area. The Rural Agents and the Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating the origin of the fire and, for the moment, are keeping all hypotheses open.

One of the keys to the fire is the right flank. If the fire were to break through in the direction of Mas Vermell or Pontons, it could reach a thousand hectares because there is "a lot of forest mass," according to the head of the Tarragona emergency region, Albert Castellet. Almost 300 firefighters have worked through the night to try to stabilize the fire, with the priority objective of preventing it from reaching scattered urbanizations and putting residents at risk. Nocturnal meteorological conditions, with higher relative humidity and less sea breeze, were expected to facilitate extinction tasks. Firefighters have worked to close about 200 meters of slopes on each flank and about 800 meters at the tail of the fire.

Driven by the wind

The fire made its way, pushed by the sea breeze that blew on Sunday afternoon. In the first moments, the fire burned intensely and advanced at a speed of two kilometers per hour. In addition, the orography of the area makes the work of the Firefighters difficult. "Of the three fires we have had here, this is perhaps the one that was located in the worst place, with a lot of forest mass and slow to work with," stated Castellet.

The mayor of Aiguamúrcia, Òscar Sendra, explained that the neighbors are "bewildered" after the area has suffered three fires in a week. Last Wednesday, 87 hectares had already burned in the nucleus of Pla de Manlleu and on Saturday another fire, smaller, affected about 1,500 square meters also in the Vall de l'Infern.