'Wound healed, scar still remains': deadly wildfire ten years on

It was set to be just another summer wildfire – and it didn’t burn an extraordinary amount of hectares, around 1,000, six times less than the biggest wildfire of 2019 so far.

Ten years on, no one would have remembered the July 21, 2009 wildfire in Horta de Sant Joan, southern Catalonia, had five firefighters not lost their lives while fighting it.

In the second day of the wildfire, the wind direction changed abruptly and unexpectedly and six firefighters got trapped between a cliff and a precipice.

The rescue operation was not possible, and four firefighters died, with one more also passing away soon afterwards – only one professional survived the tragedy.

Catalonia was in shock at the events, and the events remain in the collective memory ten years on.

The memories of Pau, Jaume, Jordi, Ramon and David will last forever, says the local community, although the plants grew back soon afterwards.

Memory of tragedy lasts in collective memory

“The wound has healed, but the scar still remains, and every time you touch that scar it reminds you of everything you went through,” says Àngel Ferràs, the mayor of Horta de Sant Joan at the time, to the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

“The wildfire would have not had any relevance, but the fact that five firefighters died made it too big.”