Barcelona and the Vallès region woke up this Wednesday to a strange atmosphere. Thick air and an unmistakable smell of burning wood surprised thousands of residents when they opened their windows first thing in the morning, especially in towns like Terrassa and Sabadell, but also spreading to the Catalan capital. The initial surprise quickly turned into a shared sense of unease that filled the streets with people looking up at the sky in search of nonexistent plumes of smoke in the surrounding area.
The Generalitat’s Fire Department, in statements provided to betevé, and Civil Protection have been quick to confirm that the cause of this phenomenon is not due to any nearby fire. The actual source of the smell is a major wildfire that broke out this past Tuesday at noon in the municipality of Leciñena, in Aragon. Despite the enormous distance, weather patterns have carried the smoke hundreds of kilometers to the Catalan coast, causing widespread confusion.
A plume of smoke visible from space
As incredible as it may seem, the source of the fire is located about 300 kilometers from Barcelona. The wildfire, which has already devastated more than 1,000 hectares in the Alcubierre mountain range, between the provinces of Zaragoza and Huesca, has been classified by the Aragonese government as “worrisome” and “evolving very rapidly.”
Satellite images clearly show how the plume of smoke—a grayish hue more translucent than white clouds—originates in Aragon and stretches across the entire Lleida plain and central Catalonia until it reaches the Barcelona coastline and coastal foothills, where its impact has become evident to the public.
