What fire risk is there in your municipality? The map of Catalonia, municipality by municipality

BarcelonaCatalonia faces a much better water scenario this summer than in previous years, but this does not mean that the risk of fires is lower. Abundant rainfall, especially during the winter, has allowed water reserves and the territory's water status to be recovered. Reservoirs have filled up, forests have been recovering from the historic drought, and vegetation has grown strongly after months of generous rainfall.

However, this very growth of vegetation brings a less positive consequence. With the premature arrival of high temperatures and the lack of rain in recent weeks, a large part of the vegetation cover has been drying out rapidly and has become a large amount of fuel available in case of fire. This means that, even though the territory is much less dry than in recent summers, the potential for a fire to gain intensity remains high in many areas, especially in the interior of the country.

A clear example is the serious forest fire that is burning in the area of La Bisbal d'Empordà (Baix Empordà) and is advancing uncontrollably, fueled by the overheated tramuntana wind. The heat accumulated over so many weeks has left the forest drier than normal after a rainy period like the one we have experienced in the last year. Furthermore, the wind has greatly reduced humidity, and the heat is intense, with temperatures reaching 34 ºC. A perfect combination to generate a large fire and make firefighting efforts very difficult for a blaze that has reached the Gavarres massif and has already scorched nearly 250 hectares.

In this map, updated daily, you can check the fire danger level in your municipality, which is high or very high in many counties.

To this situation is added another key factor: extreme heat. Since the end of May, Catalonia has been experiencing extraordinarily high temperatures for this time of year, with several episodes of intense heat that have culminated in a heatwave in recent days. The high temperatures accelerate the drying of vegetation, reduce environmental humidity, and create more favorable conditions for any ignition to quickly turn into a forest fire.

How many hectares have burned this year?

This year, 121 hectares of forest have already been burned in Catalonia – data up to June 30 – with a total of 271 fires declared. A figure of burned land that is currently better than, for example, last year, when during the heatwave between the end of June and the beginning of July, a large fire occurred in Ponent that devastated more than 5,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land.

In fact, last year was the worst of the last decade in terms of burnt area. If we sum the forest and non-forest area, 10,000 hectares were scorched. In the following graph you will find the forest hectares burnt each year since 1970, with 1994 being the worst year for burnt area, followed by 1986. The large investment made for years in Catalonia for the prevention and extinction of fires is helping to ensure that recent years are very far from the catastrophic figures of the eighties and nineties, especially with regard to the number of fires.

With global warming and the climate crisis, summers are starting earlier and are increasingly dry and hot in our region. Episodes of intense heat are more frequent and can cause increasingly devastating and fierce fires, thanks to the extreme meteorological conditions that are generated. These are what are known as sixth-generation fires.

The combination of abundant vegetation and persistent, premature heat creates a scenario that requires extreme vigilance. Catalonia is entering summer with more water than in recent years, but also with more fuel in the forests and a lot of heat. Factors that will mark the evolution of this year's fire campaign.