Alt Empordà fires "reasonably stable" after conditions for tackling the blaze improve

Barcelona (ACN).- Catalan interior minister Felip Puig was “reasonably optimistic” this morning that the fire in the Alt Empordà region would be under control this Tuesday after weather conditions improved for tackling the blaze. The fires were started on Sunday by a discarded cigarette butt, affecting an area of 13.000 hectares. The fires are now in a reasonably stable state. Weather conditions were favourable for dealing with the fire and remained so for much of Tuesday. This Tuesday evening Puig announced that the perimeter of the fire is "reasonably stable and controlled.”

While the Empordà fires are entering a phase of control, a court has opened proceedings to investigate the deaths of a father and one of his daughters who were killed while trying to escape the flames in Portbou and a man from Jonquera who died trying to extinguish the flames. The investigation didn’t include the death of a 75 year old man who suffered a heart attack during the fires, considering it a death by natural causes.