Waldbrand in Catalonia: 18,000 have to guard their houses!

Waldbrand in Catalonia: 18,000 have to guard their houses!

in northeastern Spain, more precisely at Tarragona, rage a violent forest fire since July 7, 2025. Firefighters and soldiers are mobilized to combat the flames that have already devastated over 2,300 hectares of land, including the Els Ports nature park. The current heat wave that has been burdening the area for days is particularly problematic. The emergency services face strong winds, reaching speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour, which makes the extinguishing work significantly more difficult. These winds also help to make the smoke up to 400 kilometers away, in the province of Alicante. Civil protection has imposed an outcome lock for around 18,000 people and asks the population to stay in their houses while the extinguishing work is ongoing. While around 21,000 hectares of land in Spain have been burned this year, the country was affected most of forest fires in Europe in 2022 - with around 500 fires and over 300,000 hectares of burned area. The situation remains tense and the fire brigade has published a shocking video from a helicopter that documents the burning hills.

affected areas and travel warnings

The affected areas in particular include Terres de l’Ebre, where the flames enter the towns of Paüls, Xerta, Alfara de Carles, Aldover, Tivenys, Roquetes and some districts of Tortosa. Travelers in Catalonia should urgently find out about the current situation before their departure and seek contact with their tour operators. Experts recommend avoiding the affected regions and keeping windows and doors closed. A warning of the external office confirms that the risk of forest fires in Spain is increased, especially in the summer months. In certain cases, package travelers have the right to withdraw from the travel contract free of charge if forest fires are registered in the immediate vicinity.

climate change and human factors

The fires in Spain are a worrying sign of the plaintiffs on the effects of climate change, which are tightened by natural and human factors. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed the problem during a visit to the affected areas. Environmentalists and landowners are often in the crossfire of criticism, while several fires are also attributed to human failure, such as illegal field adjustments and grill fire. These challenges are particularly critical, as forest fires devastating all over Spain, which have been providing the largest burned area since the beginning of the records, took place in the summer of 2022.

The current events illustrate the need to strongly rethink both prevention measures and the responsibility to maintain the natural areas to prevent future disasters.

For current information and developments, it is recommended to consult local messages and authorities regularly.

You can find out more about the situation on Vol.at , Reisereeporter.de href = "https://www.costanachrichten.com/spanien/walbranden-spanien-aktuell-kosta-costa-barcelona-galicien-tote-feuerwehr-91678644.html"> Costanachrichten.com .