Maréva Laville with AFP / Photo credit: RAYMOND ROIG / AFP
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7:07 p.m., August 05, 2023
Catalan and French firefighters are trying on Saturday to control a fire that is progressing over nearly 600 hectares of the Spanish Mediterranean coast, near the border, violent winds fanning the flames and complicating the intervention of water bomber planes. The fire broke out late Friday afternoon in the south of the border town of Portbou, a very touristy forest area whose station allows connections between France and Spain.
300 Spanish firefighters mobilized
Saturday afternoon, several localities were still confined due to the flames, and the national road leading to Portbou and the French town of Cerbère remained closed. A fire official, however, told reporters that the situation was developing “favorably”. As of 1:30 p.m. (11:30 GMT), some 573 hectares were affected, according to provisional data from Catalan forest rangers. An investigation is still underway to determine the exact origin of the fire, according to regional authorities.
The fire “remains active” and the priority is to contain its progression towards the south to prevent it from reaching the dwellings of the municipality of Llançà, added the firefighters, specifying that more than 2,500 hectares were threatened on this side. The fire is progressing due to the Tramontana, with gusts that reached nearly 100km / h overnight before decreasing in intensity in the morning, preventing water bomber planes from participating in operations. The hilly topography also complicates access to the flames.
Firefighter aerial operations remained essentially limited to surveillance on Saturday afternoon due to the persistence of violent gusts, which could intensify in the evening according to the weather forecast. Nearly 300 Spanish firefighters are mobilized as well as a dozen French trucks from the Pyrénées-Orientales department, bordering the area of the fire.
135 evacuations
Around 135 people were evacuated overnight, according to firefighters, while several hundred others were confined to villages or campsites which welcome thousands of tourists every summer. Catalan Red Cross volunteers take part in operations to support the population and welcome people who cannot return to their homes. According to the Catalan Civil Protection, more than 1,500 people are still without electricity on Saturday afternoon and “rail traffic remains stopped” between Portbou and the town of Figueras, about thirty kilometers further south.
Catalan firefighters said four of their members and two citizens were being treated by emergency medical services for minor fire-related injuries. In 2022, nearly 500 fires devoured more than 300,000 hectares in Spain, a record in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis). This year, the number of hectares burned is around 70,000 hectares, according to the same source.