A one-month-old baby was seriously injured when a firecracker exploded in Palau-Solità and Plegamans.
The night of San Juan in Barcelona closes with 33 arrests and 330 firefighters.
A one-month-old baby has been seriously injured by a firecracker exploding during the Sant Joan festival. The incident took place in Palau-Solità and Plegamans. The baby, who suffered first- and second-degree burns to the head, has been transferred to Barcelona and is being treated in the children's ward of Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona. The accident occurred on an undeveloped lot on Til lers Street. The accident was the most serious of those that occurred during the festival, which was generally calm, although another person is reported to be in serious condition: a man who suffered burns when a car with him inside caught fire and who was also hospitalized in serious condition at Vall d'Hebron Hospital. In total, the Generalitat Fire Department received 1,356 calls throughout the night, primarily for urban and vegetation fires.
In Barcelona, the toll from the festival was 33 people arrested by the Guardia Urbana and the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) and 330 interventions by the city's fire brigade. Of these, 97 were due to fires, according to Albert Batlle, Third Deputy Mayor for Prevention, Security, Coexistence, and Internal Affairs of Barcelona, who highlighted the "normal" way in which the night of San Juan passed in the Catalan capital. The most significant fire was the one on the Carretera de les Aigües, where 2.5 hectares of land burned, and Batlle assured that all fires were successfully extinguished. In addition, up to 367 reports were filed with the police for various reasons.
Batlle also highlighted "the speed" with which the beaches have reopened, from where cleaning crews have removed up to 65 tons of debris. In fact, throughout the night, the average number of people on Barcelona's beaches was 92,000, with a peak of 111,000 at 12:30 p.m. This represents a significant increase compared to previous years, but there were no major accidents, apart from one person who was taken to the hospital by the emergency medical services (SEM) with symptoms of drowning. To clean the beaches, the police had to evacuate thousands of people who were still partying at the end of the night.
Significant fires in Puigverd de Lleida and Tortosa
In addition to the two seriously injured, firefighters were called to action across the country, with several notable home fires causing personal injury occurring in the early hours of the morning. At 4:00 a.m., a fire was reported in a house in Puigverd, Lleida, requiring the intervention of three crews to extinguish it. In addition, the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) treated a man and three women for the fire, which ended up being sent to Arnau de Vilanova Hospital in Lleida in less serious condition. The extractor hood and kitchen cupboard in a house in Tortosa also burned, forcing the fire department to send four crews. Two people were taken to Virgen de la Cinta Hospital for smoke inhalation.
In Martorell, a firecracker caused a small fire in an apartment on Esparreguera Street. There was also a small fire in a home on Gran Vía in Hospitalet de Llobregat. Firefighters evacuated one of the apartments, where a man was sleeping at the time of the fire. Witness reports of small fires caused by fireworks have been frequent throughout the country. Firefighters extinguished an agricultural vegetation fire that burned an area of unmown grain fields in Rubí. In Santa Coloma de Farners, a transformer burned on Castanyet Street. The incident mobilized six units.
Meanwhile, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) deployed a special operation tonight to ensure safety, mobility, and public order during the festival. A total of 105 people were arrested overnight, 32 directly related to the festival. Of the total arrests, 30 were for property crimes, 7 for bodily harm, 12 for gender-based violence, and 56 for other offenses. The officers deployed as part of this special operation also issued 37 reports for violations of the Citizen Safety Act. Regarding the roads, there were no traffic fatalities during the festival: 2,243 breathalyzer tests were conducted, of which 157 were positive and 17 were penalty tests. However, there were 25 accidents, with a total of nine people slightly injured and one seriously injured.