A total 20,934 actions since the start of the year

In the period up to 30 November, the Barcelona Fire Service acted in 20,934 cases, performing rescue tasks (7,624), responding to fires or explosions (4,290), providing technical help (4,942) and operational prevention work, overall representing over 62 services per day. Of these, 1,800 were fires or explosions in the home.

Firefighters also carry out a large number of tasks which vary greatly, providing assistance for people and non-emergency action, such as improving building health, propping up constructions, temporary measures owing to rainfall or leaks, gas leaks, liquid spills and more.

The Barcelona Fire Service has also continued to carry out preventive action to minimise fire risks in various activities in Barcelona. This work facilitates better knowledge of the intervention environment in terms of access routes and familiarity with buildings, plus unique elements of the service as preventive measures. These activities improve efficiency and safety in interventions.

The Barcelona Fire Service has been working with an indicator guide since 2017 to detect cases of energy poverty once inside a home, which are included in service reports: kitchen stoves in a building with central gas, accumulation of large bottles with water from the street, presence of candles or lights without bulbs, leaks and damp etc. This year, in the period up to September, the corps made a total of 370 reports with indicators of possible energy poverty.

The Barcelona Fire Service considers emergency responses and prevention as priorities in ensuring citizen safety as it is not enough to respond to incidents once they occur. Prevention work needs to be carried out in advance to keep incidents to a minimum, and should they occur, to keep the consequences to a minimum.

Installing smoke detectors is an important measure for preventing victims in fires at home. They are the simplest, cheapest and most effective option when it comes to detecting fires. They are easy to install and do not need any special preparation as they work with batteries. The devices sound an alarm when they detect smoke in an initial stage, allowing people to act and avoid the propagation of fire by closing doors and facilitating intervention by firefighters if necessary.

How can we avoid fires at home?

• Check installations. You need to check that equipment such as heaters and cookers work properly. Don’t plug various devices into the same multiple power socket and keep your electrical installation in good condition.
• Turn off the main gas supply. Check that the hobs are off when you’ve finished cooking and that the main gas supply is off when you go out or go to bed.
• Never leave candles burning unattended when you go to bed or leave the house.
• Don’t leave heaters near curtains, towels, sofas or other inflammable objects. Heaters can start a fire. They need to be away from (at least a metre) other objects that might burn, such as sofas, curtains, clothing left out to dry etc.
• Rooms with cookers, heaters and gas heaters must be ventilated and connect to the outside of the home, if not there is a danger of intoxication or explosion if there is a gas leak. In case of intoxication from incorrect combustion by heaters or coal braziers, ventilate the home.
• If you smell gas: open the windows, turn the main gas supply off and call the gas supply company or the fire service. Do not use any switches (lights, kitchen extractor etc.).

What to do if a fire breaks out?

If the fire is outside your home:

• Stay in the home and close the doors and windows to prevent the smoke coming in.
• Call 112 to report the fire and indicate where you are.
• Put wet cloths along the edges of your door.

If the fire is in your home:

• Call 112.
• If you can, leave the home and close all the doors. Go out into the street. Do not take the lift and do not go to the roof terrace.
• If you can’t get out of the home, get as far away from the fire as you can and close all the doors you can. Try to make yourself visible from the street or from other buildings.