Residents of Sant Boi de Llobregat experienced a very eventful Sunday morning after a large fire broke out in an industrial area of ​​the municipality. The alarm was raised around 09:33 p.m.Alerts came in that flames were engulfing a waste management facility located on Extremadura Street, within the well-known El Fonollar Nord industrial park. A dense and dramatic column of black smoke quickly became visible from much of the Barcelona metropolitan area, understandably causing concern among local residents.
Despite the severity of the accident, the rapid intervention of the emergency teams allowed the situation to be brought under control. It will be under control at 12:05 pmAccording to official sources, there were no casualties or injuries of any kind, as no workers were inside the plant when the fire started. The town's mayor praised the progress of the firefighting efforts, emphasizing that the main objective was always to prevent the disaster from escalating and affecting neighboring businesses.
A coordinated deployment to stop the flames
From the outset, the Generalitat Fire Service activated a large-scale operation to deal with the emergency. They even reached mobilize up to 12 crews They were dispatched to the scene to try to extinguish a fire that was already fully developed when they arrived. The firefighters encountered a difficult situation, as the material stored in the Gersa company warehouse, mainly paper and cardboard, served as ideal fuel for the flames to spread with astonishing speed throughout the premises.
The firefighting teams' strategy had to be adapted on the fly because the The roof of the industrial building collapsed completely. This structural collapse prevented firefighters from entering the building, as the risk of the walls giving way was too high for their physical safety. Therefore, they opted for defensive maneuvers from the outside, using ladder trucks and high-powered hoses to contain the fire and cool the side walls.
Protection of the population and preventive measures
One of the critical issues this morning was managing the immense cloud of smoke that covered part of the sky over Sant Boi. Given the possibility that the burning waste could be irritating to residents, Civil Protection made the decision to activate the Procicat plan in the pre-alert phaseAs a safety measure, residents of the Casablanca neighborhood were strongly advised to remain confined to their homes with doors and windows tightly closed until the situation improved.
As the hours passed and the fire stabilized, the intensity of the smoke decreased dramatically, allowing authorities to lift movement restrictions. Throughout the process, emergency teams maintained close monitoring. a twin ship located right next to of the affected building. Efforts focused on creating a water barrier to prevent the extreme heat from penetrating the dividing walls, ultimately saving the adjacent structure and limiting material damage to the building where the fire originated.
There is still work to be done before normality fully returns to the El Fonollar Nord industrial park, as the cooling-down operations usually last for several hours to prevent any embers from reigniting the fire. Although it is known that the fire affected highly flammable recycling material, the exact causes are still unknown. will now be the subject of investigation by the specialists. Calm has returned to the streets of Sant Boi after a tense Sunday that, fortunately, resulted only in material damage and a major scare for the local community.