Two people have died in an “extremely violent” agricultural fire declared on Tuesday in the municipality of Torrefeta I Florejacs, in the region of La Segarra (Lleida), and which has been confined, several hours, 450 neighbors from 9 municipalities in the area. The fire, which has already razed more than 1,830 hectares, has developed “extremely violent” behavior due to the influence of nearby storms and wind bursts that have become up to 125 km/h. The last report of the Bombers of the Generalitat points to that around 22:30 it has stabilized and after 23:00 hours the confinement orders have been deactivated.
The bodies of the two victims have been located by troops of the pumpers within the perimeter of the fire, near the Coscó nucleus, while working on the extinction work and the Mossos d’Esquadra have opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the event. The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has been “dismayed” and has sent his condolences to families in a message on the social network X. Illa has called for “prudence” and has asked citizens to follow all the instructions of emergency services in the affected areas.
The Torrefeta I Florejacs fire has been unleashed in the middle of heat wave, in an agricultural area, and has come to threaten about 5,000 hectares, although finally the calcined surface has been contained in 1,830. As explained by the head of the Bombers in Lleida, David Borrell, the fire has generated a column of smoke and ash of 19 kilometers high, “one of the highest of which one is recorded”, and has given rise to the birth of a pyrocumulus (a convection cloud generated by the fire itself), which has forced to change the extinction strategy to prioritize the safety of the equipment.
During the afternoon, the behavior of fire has been erratic and aggressive, but the arrival of the rain has quickly modified the stage. The improvement of conditions has allowed progress in perimeter stabilization. Tonight the works will focus on cooling the land to avoid possible reactivations, in the face of a new day of high temperatures.
In addition to the calcined hectares, firefighters have initiated the assessment of damage to buildings within the perimeter. Some Guardiola and Renant farms have been affected. The aerial media have retired at dusk and the entire perimeter has been surrounded by water lines.
The Minister of Interior and Public Security, Núria Parlon, has moved to the Guissona Control Center and highlighted “the good response” of the population by following the confinement instructions after receiving the alerts by mobile. Parlon has also thanked the involvement of the agricultural sector, which has collaborated with machinery to open firewalls.
In parallel, another agricultural fire has reactivated Tuesday in the municipality of Sanaüja, also in Lleida, and has affected about 40 hectares. It has also been virtually controlled in the last hours, which has allowed mobility restrictions to lift.
Civil Protection has sent alerts for the Es-Alert system to the neighbors of Agramunt, Cabanabona, Vilanova de l’Acuda, artisan of Segre, Ponts, Oliola, Guissona, Sanaüja and Torrefeta I Florejacs. The authorities have requested attention to both official channels and social networks, where all information about active fires in Catalonia is centralized.
(Tagstotranslate) Fires
