Barcelona activates heat alert as Catalonia braces for peak of extreme heatwave and wildfires spread
Barcelona city council has activated its heat alert phase, sending warnings to nearly 12,000 vulnerable residents and deploying street teams, as Catalonia endures a second, more intense heatwave of the summer with temperatures forecast to exceed 42°C and simultaneous wildfires straining emergency services.
Heatwave alerts and city response
The Barcelona city council activated the "alert" phase for intense heat on Wednesday, moving from a preventive stage after the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (Meteocat) placed the region at risk level 4 on a 0-6 scale. Over 11,800 people registered as especially vulnerable received SMS alerts with advice. Street teams with the Centre d'Urgències i Emergències Socials de Barcelona (CUESB) and Red Cross distributed water, caps, towels, and sunscreen, and directed those sleeping rough to the network of climate shelters.
Temperature records and forecast
Meteocat's head of prediction, Santi Segalà, said the current heatwave is longer and more intense than the one around Sant Joan, with "very high temperatures until at least mid-July". Tuesday set four absolute temperature records across Catalonia, with Vinebre reaching 43.7°C. Wednesday is expected to be the worst day, with red alerts for half of Catalonia's comarques. Maximums above 42°C are forecast for parts of Lleida, Tarragona, and Girona; Barcelona is under an orange alert, with daytime highs around 35°C and tropical nights not dropping below 20–25°C.
The danger level is 6 out of 6 across almost the entire territory on the peak days of the heatwave.
Health impact
The Sistema d'Emergències Mèdiques (SEM) has attended 89 people for heat-related conditions, with 61% requiring ambulance transfer to a health centre. Civil Protection maintains the PROCICAT emergency plan in the alert phase, urging town halls to set up cool spaces and to monitor over-75s without family support, chronic patients, and disabled people. Simultaneously, the forest-fire emergency plan INFOCAT is activated due to extreme fire risk.
Strain on firefighters
Multiple fires have broken out, forcing Bombers de la Generalitat to double their usual crews. The largest active fire is in Sentmenat, about 30 km from Barcelona, which has prompted confinements in Sentmenat, Caldes de Montbui, and Castellar del Vallès. Fire chief David Borrell said the right flank of the Sentmenat fire had been contained but it remained active, with the priority on preventing the flames from reaching Sant Feliu de Codines. A simultaneous fire in the Anoia region, which required the confinement of 33,000 people, was stabilised.
The number of personnel and aerial resources is not infinite; we are selecting very carefully what the objective is at each moment to avoid operational collapse.
Fire prevention under scrutiny
Amid the fires, experts are questioning whether the statutory 25-metre clearance strips around forest-adjacent urbanisations are sufficient. Joan Pino, director of CREAF, said that in the most exposed areas perhaps 50-metre or larger perimeters are needed. About half of the urbanisations obliged to maintain such strips do not have them, and the Sentmenat fire highlighted the vulnerability of homes built directly within forested zones.
Perhaps 25-metre strips are no longer enough, and we need to think about perimeters of 50 metres or more in the most exposed territories.
- Simultaneous wildfires break out in Anoia and Sentmenat; 33,000 people confined in Anoia.
- Four temperature records broken across Catalonia; Vinebre reaches 43.7°C.
- Peak day: red alerts across half of Catalonia; Barcelona activates heat alert; maximums above 42°C expected.
- Extreme heat continues; health services report 89 heat-related cases; wildfires persist.
- Possible easing of heatwave, but temperatures remain above average into mid-July.
