Overview
- A fire that started at the Proquinat wax and paraffin factory on May 28 spread into nearby vegetation and forced an ES-Alert confinement for about 600 residents while all factory workers evacuated without serious injury.
- Bombers de la Generalitat deployed dozens of ground crews and multiple aircraft to fight the blaze and declared it controlled by the evening with the confinement lifted the following morning on May 29.
- Post-fire checks found roughly 4,000 square metres of burned woodland and paraffin runoff affecting about 400 metres of the Riera de Riudemeia, prompting the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) to monitor contamination and plan further testing.
- The factory was heavily damaged or destroyed and officials have opened an investigation into the fire’s origin and whether the required protective perimeter strips were adequate or maintained around the site.
- Local forest-defense groups and the mayor raised urgent questions about prevention measures as the region enters a higher-risk season, and authorities may require environmental restoration and new enforcement of perimeter clearance rules.