The fire in Vall d’Uixó (Castellón) that originated this Saturday is not only still active, but is “out of control”, as warned this Sunday by the president of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, after the Cecopi meeting at the Advanced Command Post. The fire, which has reached a perimeter of 40 kilometers and is suspected to have been intentional, has already devoured 4,300 hectares in the interior of the Castellón province.
In fact, the fire forced the evacuation of a total of 16 municipalities on Saturday. Around 16,000 people remain displaced due to the advance of the flames. The head of the Consell has ruled out that the evacuees can return home this Sunday, precisely because “the situation is difficult and the weather conditions will continue to be bad.” “Today, no one will return to their homes,” Llorca announced.
The Valencian president has also asked for great caution from the residents of the confined municipalities of Betxí and Vall d’Uixó, whose urban area the fire was about to enter on Saturday morning. “It has been the worst night in our history,” summarized the mayor of Vall d’Uixó, Tania Baños. To the extent that this morning a total of 113 people had to be evacuated from the Novaedat elderly residence in this Castellón municipality.
Although firefighters finally managed to contain the flames from reaching the population, Llorca has insisted that no one should go out into the street to avoid smoke inhalation poisoning. Therefore, the confinement of Vall d’Uixó and Betxí remains in place by order of Cecopi.
To this end, the Generalitat Valenciana, through the Emergency Coordination Center, has sent a new Es-Alert message asking the population to close doors, windows, and ventilation and turn off air conditioning and extractors. “Remain indoors,” the alert message details.
At this moment, the left flank of the fire is particularly concerning, an area difficult for ground brigades to access. For this reason, the Generalitat has requested more aerial resources from the Government of Spain, which already sent the Military Emergency Unit on Saturday.
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Around 450 personnel have been deployed to combat the fire, and throughout today, new aerial resources are expected to arrive, reaching up to 20 units. Specifically, the action of two FOCA aircraft, which the Government will send with a large water carrying capacity, is relied upon.
In this regard, the Minister of Science, Diana Morant, who has assumed the government’s spokesperson role alongside the delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, highlighted the “absolute collaboration” with the Generalitat. Bernabé, for her part, guaranteed that all requests from the Valencian Government, which holds the direction of the emergency, will be attended to, and that aerial resources have been doubled.
On the other hand, Bernabé confirmed that there is an “investigation underway,” as the main hypothesis is that the fire was intentional. “It does not seem to have been caused by natural causes,” she criticized. The first fire outbreak occurred around 9:30 AM on Saturday in an urban area near a school. When firefighters managed to extinguish the flames, another focus started in a forest area. Added to this is the dissemination of a video showing a man fleeing just as one of the outbreaks originated.
Regarding the people affected by the fire, the Generalitat reports that 19 people have been treated for inhalation at the Hospital de La Plana, of whom seven remain under observation, two admitted, and one has been treated in the emergency room.
