Firefighters contain blaze at Zaragoza recycling plant, the third in three months

Incident response

Fire crews were alerted to the fire at around 2:00 a.m. on Monday at an outdoor area of the López Soriano Technological Recycling Park (PTR) in the rural La Cartuja district. The operation deployed 21 municipal firefighters, a light urban pumper, a heavy pumper, three tanker trucks, a nurse tender, an articulated boom, two command cars, and an ambulance. The Provincial Council of Zaragoza contributed an additional heavy vehicle for water supply and further firefighting support, including an extra nurse tender and tanker.

Material and containment

The fire consumed compacted scrap from vehicles and household appliances, predominantly compressed aluminum. The municipal delegate for firefighters, Ruth Bravo, described the blaze as "very spectacular because it is highly flammable material, mainly compacted aluminum that comes from cars and household appliances" and stated that crews had sectorized each burning pile to prevent the flames from spreading to storage areas. By Monday midday, the fire was fully perimetred, with no risk of propagation, though extinguishing operations were expected to continue through Tuesday.

Public health reassurance

A vast plume of black smoke visible from multiple points across Zaragoza dominated the early morning sky. As the day progressed, the smoke dissipated and lightened. Bravo assured residents that, although visually dramatic, the fire posed no serious risk to public health. She advised those with respiratory conditions to close their windows if the wind were to shift and carry the already dispersed smoke into the city, but stressed that the smoke is not toxic and the fire remains under control.

“Although the fire is very striking, it does not pose any kind of seriousness to the health of the citizens.”

A pattern of recurrence

This is the third fire at the PTR in three months, and the second in six weeks. A previous major blaze occurred on May 15, destroying a warehouse belonging to the electrical cable recycling company RAEE S.L. Another fire had been recorded at the La Cartuja Baja plant on May 3. Reporting tracks at least seven fires at the complex between May and September 2025, two more in 2024, and over a dozen significant incidents since 2018. The repetitive nature of the fires is attributed to the highly combustible materials stored on site for recycling.