The alarms have sounded loudly once again in the municipality of Almonte. The Montehigo area, where the local recycling plant is located, has witnessed another incident that has tested the speed of the emergency services. It is not the first time this has happened, and it seems that the situation in the materials storage area This is becoming a common occurrence that worries the residents of the area.
This time, the flames have once again engulfed the plastic waste piled up at the facility. The alarm was raised at midday, mobilizing a significant contingent to prevent the disaster from escalating. What seemed like a Fire under control It ended up giving the workers a small scare when, after the initial work, the material caught fire again due to the high temperatures reached in these spoil heaps.
Chronicle of a fire foretold in Montehigo
The incident at this location is becoming increasingly alarming. With this latest event, firefighters have now had to carry out three major interventions at these same facilities since last April. Specifically, on April 20th and May 19th, they already had to... deploy hoses and machinery to extinguish fires of very similar characteristics, which highlights a recurring problem in the management of this waste.
The area that has been scorched this time reaches two hectares. The fire did not remain confined within the boundaries of the recycling center, but rather jumped onto an adjacent propertyThis forced firefighters to redouble their efforts to prevent nearby vegetation from becoming additional fuel. Fortunately, the rapid containment of the fire prevented the environmental disaster from being far worse than what a plastic fire already is.
The complexity of eliminating accumulated plastic
Anyone with even a basic understanding of the subject knows that turning off a bunch of plastic is no walk in the park. The material retains a tremendous amount of heat inside, creating what experts call hot spots that can reignite the flames hours later of seeming extinguished. This is precisely what happened on Friday, when firefighters from the Almonte station had to return to the site to cool the area and secure the perimeter.
To deal with these types of incidents, it's not enough to simply throw water indiscriminately. It's necessary to move the earth and debris to reach the heart of the fire. In this sense, the collaboration of a tractor with a tank It was essential to remove the plastic debris and allow the water to penetrate the deeper layers, thus ensuring that the fire was permanently confined within the plot assigned to the landfill.
A coordinated deployment in the province of Huelva
The Huelva Provincial Fire Consortium spared no resources to stop the advance of the black smoke, which was visible for several kilometers around. Crews composed of [number of firefighters] were dispatched from the fire stations in Almonte and San Juan del Puerto. a sergeant, several corporals and firefighterssupported by a fleet that included everything from car carrier trucks to light urban and heavy rural vehicles to move around the uneven terrain of the area.
Although the situation is now much calmer, vigilance remains the absolute priority to prevent new outbreaks that would force us to start from scratch. The repetition of these episodes in just a month and a half has generated a debate about the safety in the storage of plasticssince the constant intervention of the emergency services causes significant wear and tear and poses a clear risk to the natural environment of Almonte that surrounds these industrial plants.
The complete stabilization of the site has allowed the operation to be withdrawn gradually, leaving behind a landscape marked by smoke and the remains of processed material. Constant monitoring on the ground and the experience of forestry groups And urban firefighters have been key to preventing the incident from escalating, thus closing yet another episode in a series of fires that are beginning to tire the professionals who risk their lives on every trip to Montehigo.