Barcelona City Council has started fire prevention work this week in Collserola and other forest areas across the city. These operations cover 346 hectares, primarily within the Collserola Natural Park, across the districts of Gràcia, Horta-Guinardó, Les Corts, Nou Barris, and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi.
The main goal is to prepare these green spaces to stop fires from developing during high-risk months, according to city officials. This work helps minimise fire spread and makes monitoring and extinguishing tasks easier. The deployment of teams across Barcelona's forest zones has a budget of €400,000.
Their primary tasks include clearing herbaceous and shrub layers, thinning tree layers, and pruning lower branches, with a focus on removing dry and dead vegetation. The initiative, driven by the Institute of Parks and Gardens, also seeks to protect vulnerable areas, such as urbanisations and neighbourhoods bordering forest land. It also maintains key fire extinguishing infrastructure, like strategic management points.
Year-Round Prevention Efforts
Three brigades will carry out the work, each covering approximately 22 hectares monthly. These teams will operate throughout the year, except for July and August, which are periods of high fire risk. These forest fire prevention actions are specifically authorised despite the presence of African swine fever (ASF), as they are considered essential for safety.
Consequently, the work will follow the disinfection measures required due to ASF. The Department of Agriculture confirmed this week thirteen new positive cases of African swine fever in wild boars, all within the high-risk zone. This brings the total number of identified infected animals to 297.
In parallel, the control operation has captured over 4,500 wild boars within the infected zone since the outbreak began in November. The Catalan government maintains an operation with more than 2,500 personnel and has strengthened surveillance and capture mechanisms to contain the disease's spread in about twenty municipalities in the metropolitan area.
