Responsibility urged in the face of the highest fire risk in 18 years

The Catalan President, Pere Aragonès, has warned that the heatwave coming to Catalonia from Wednesday represents an "extreme danger" of fires, and has urged maximum caution. 

"We are facing some critical days," Aragonés said in a tweet, adding that the government will take action and step up fire prevention measures. 

However, the president has called on the public to also act responsibly. 

The minister for climate action, Teresa Jordà, admitted that the risk of fire is the highest seen in the last 18 years and that the heatwave severely affecting Greece and Turkey is coming to Catalonia. 

"If a fire burns, we can put it out and deal with it. If there are many, it will be very difficult," she warned.

Jordà remarked that Catalonia will see high temperatures of more than 40 degrees, very low humidity and extreme drought. "We must minimize activity in the mountains, these are beach days," said the minister in a video on social media.

Interior minister Joan Ignasi Elena echoed the same calls. “If you see smoke, call 112,” the official requested.

The arrival of a mass of Saharan air will create extreme conditions such as those seen in the past week in Turkey and Greece, where images of dramatic wildfires have been shared across social networks.

The Saharan air will be “persistent and intense,” and temperatures will not drop at night. This, together with the very low relative humidity and drought, makes the risk of fire especially high in various points of Catalonia. 

The last time such an extreme heatwave was seen in Catalonia was in 2003, a period that lasted 15 days and saw 1,000 hectares burned.