The Generalitat de Catalunya sent an aerial unit from Bombers de la Generalitat, Catalonia's Fire Department, to help tackle the forest fire at Ejulve in Teruel on Tuesday, 21 July. The fire had affected a provisional area of about 1,100 hectares and had led to the evacuation of several population centres.

For Catalan residents, the immediate confirmed consequence is that one Bombers aerial resource has been assigned to an emergency operation outside Catalonia. The announcement does not set out any change to firefighting cover within Catalonia.

President Salvador Illa announced the deployment on Tuesday afternoon. The fire was declared on Monday, 20 July, in the Ejulve municipal area, according to the operational update on the incident.

Fire remains active in Sierra de Majalinos

Aragón's fire operation said the blaze remained active under Situación Operativa 2, Nivel 2 de Protección Civil, the formal civil-protection operational classification being applied to the incident. The update reported that an advanced command post had been installed in Ejulve.

Firefighters were working to contain a fire front estimated at about six kilometres, with operations divided into four sectors. The stated priorities were to stabilise the flanks and rear of the fire, consolidate its perimeter and prevent it reaching the holm-oak woodland and the area around Cuevas de Cañart.

“The fire that concerns us most at this time is Ejulve. During the night, approximately 1,100 hectares burned in an area that had already suffered a major fire in 2009 and where mainly scrubland is burning.”Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, Aragón's Councillor for Finance, Interior and Public Administration

Bermúdez de Castro said the fire's progress during the day would depend heavily on high temperatures, low humidity and wind.

Resources assigned to the operation

According to the incident update, Aragón's INFOAR wildfire service had deployed the following resources during the day:

  • Seven ground brigades
  • Six fire engines
  • Five aerial resources
  • A coordination helicopter
  • Nature-protection agents acting as sector commanders
  • An advanced command post and the fire-extinguishing command

The heaviest concentration of aircraft was due to focus on the head of the fire and sector 3, to stop it reaching the holm-oak woodland. Resources were also being reinforced in sector 4 because of the risk of spread towards Cuevas de Cañart.

The fire affects the Sierra de Majalinos, an area also hit by the major 2009 wildfire that began in Aliaga and later spread to Ejulve.

Primary sources: Generalitat de Catalunya. Reported by europesays.com, lacerca.com, Redacción, Nerea Lozano, Heraldo de Aragón, El Periódico de Aragón, Marcos Navarro, europapress.es, Camila Ortiz Tomaselli, larazon.es, notimerica.com, RTVE.es / AGENCIAS, Europa Press Barcelona.

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