600 dump sites at risk of catching fire detected in Barcelona region

The provincial council of Barcelona has detected more than 600 dump sites since June which are at risk of catching fire. 

It is practically the same number of sites detected last summer during the two and a half months of the campaign. 

Baix Llobregat and Vallès Occidental are the counties within the province of Barcelona with the most dumping sites detected so far, with 125 and 108 uncontrolled points respectively. Anoia, Vallès Oriental, and Osona are next on the list, with 87, 72, and 46 cases. 

More than half of the sites detected have been found on pathways or rural tracks, while a hundred have been in housing estates or farmhouses. 

There have also been about sixty in agricultural or forest areas, while more than 50 have been in urban areas. Regarding the type of sites, 421 of the 600 detected were waste, while 138 cases were infrastructure incidents.

Catalonia has suffered various serious wildfires during the past summers, when heatwaves make conditions dryer than normal, helping flames spread faster. 

In July, a fire in central Catalonia affected thousands of hectares of land, burning some homes and forcing many people to evacuate their houses.