More than 1,100 hectares have been burned across Catalonia and firefighters fear multiple simultaneous fires as of this Wednesday could be aggravated by the heat

• planning Heat increased fire in Catalonia: about 1,100 hectares were burned in six fires at the same time and 70 people were evacuated

Members of the Army’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) are working to put out a fire at Artesa de Segre (Lleida) after the Generalitat asked for help as the flames doused yesterday morning. According to firefighters, in a few hours, around 600 hectares have been burnt and the flames have the potential to reach 20,000.

For this reason, members of the military from Valencia and Zaragoza have joined the device in Artesa, which holds 50 people along with 14 vehicles. In addition, the Generalitat also demanded that farmers in the area build firebrakes around the perimeter of the fire, as some did yesterday with their tractors. The fire evicted about 70 people from a community home, a CMPNG and a populated area, while the Generalitat urged residents to stay in their homes.

The representative of the government in Lleida, Bernat Sol, assured that “the objective is that the fire does not proceed towards Villanova de Mei (Lleida) or Mount Sant Mamet, and that it does not cross the Segre River” and elaborated that its Before entering the fields, they must go to the fire department’s command center in Artesa de Segre to ascertain the status of the fire “and, if necessary, they must go to the farm.”

There are currently three active fires in Catalonia, with 155 land and air resources mobilized to extinguish them, although the most uncontrolled is one in Artesa. Firefighters mourn an overflow of troops in Catalonia in a large simultaneous situation of fire, which worsened with outbreaks caused by lightning strikes at night. Extreme heat can make extinction even more difficult.

The other two fires, one in Castellar de la Ribera (Lileda) and one in Corbera d’Ebre (Tarragona), have burned about 700 hectares, mainly bushes. Therefore, firefighters are trying to control the perimeter and prevent them from moving by using firebrakes, such as plowing fields.