Tírig wildfire forces evacuation of Catí as burned area reaches 684 hectares in Castellón

Fire progression and evacuation

The wildfire in Tírig, in the province of Castellón, was declared at the end of Friday afternoon, with all evidence pointing to a lightning strike as the cause. By Sunday morning, the burned area had surpassed 240 hectares with a perimeter of 10.5 kilometres. The figure rose to approximately 395 hectares and 15 kilometres of perimeter by Sunday afternoon, and reached about 684 hectares with a 19-kilometre perimeter by Sunday evening, according to conseller de Emergencias Juan Carlos Valderrama after the latest Cecopi meeting.

The fire remains active in situation 2 of the Plan Especial frente a Incendios Forestales (PEIF) of the Comunitat Valenciana. On Sunday at 16:27, the Generalitat sent an ES-Alert message ordering the evacuation of the municipality of Catí, which had been confined since Saturday. Residents were instructed to leave via the CV-128 or N-232 roads toward Xert and follow Guardia Civil instructions.

Two fronts and weather conditions

Firefighting teams are working on two fronts: the northern zone affecting Catí and the southern zone in the Tírig area. Antonio Rodrigo, subinspector jefe of the Consorcio de Castellón and director técnico del Puesto de Mando Avanzado, explained that a fire jump prompted the evacuation decision.

The work was going quite favorably. The only thing is that we had a jump and, as a precaution, we proposed to the emergency direction the evacuation of the population and we are working there with all the means.

Overnight conditions helped containment efforts. Relative humidity reached 70% during the night, allowing vegetation to recover moisture and facilitating the work of ground teams. The forecast for Sunday night was favorable, with humidity expected to reach 90%.

This will allow us to work very well because the fuel will absorb a lot of moisture and slow down the fire and let us work in good conditions.

Wind from the south and southeast blew at 30 to 40 km/h during Sunday afternoon, but was expected to ease to under 10 km/h overnight with descending winds. AEMET's Meteosat satellite detected a hot spot in the fire zone, with smoke columns expanding northward toward Castell de Cabres and Herbers.

Resources deployed

An overnight deployment of about 200 effectives took advantage of favorable weather conditions. By Sunday morning, 19 aerial means had joined the operation from 08:00, alongside more than 300 effectives and 50 ground units. By Sunday evening, 250 effectives were set to remain working through the night. No personal injuries have been reported, and teams have protected farm installations in both the northern and southern zones. On the southern front, crews worked a well-defined flame front near a farm where all aerial means concentrated their efforts.

Other fires across the province

The Tírig fire was one of several blazes linked to dry thunderstorms across Castellón over the weekend. Fires in Culla and Serra d'en Galceran have been controlled, and the fire in La Salzadella was extinguished. A small fire in Palanques, in the Els Ports area, was also quickly extinguished overnight. Valderrama linked the multiple outbreaks to dry thunderstorms and warned of continued risk.

We must all be attentive to prevent or deal with any type of fire.

The pre-emergency level for wildfire risk across the Comunitat Valenciana was classified as extreme (red) on Sunday, with the possibility of dry thunderstorms in the province of Alicante.