More than 160,000 residents in Catalonia were ordered to remain indoors for nearly seven hours on Saturday, following a fire at an industrial warehouse that released a chlorine-based toxic cloud across a wide area.
The fire broke out at dawn in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a coastal town south of Barcelona, in a facility used to store swimming pool cleaning chemicals, according to the regional fire department.
Civil protection authorities issued instructions for residents to shelter indoors and keep windows shut. The safety measures were lifted soon after midday.
‘The lockdown is being lifted,’ Catalonia’s regional interior minister, Núria Parlon, confirmed at a press conference shortly after 12.15pm.
Despite the lifted restrictions, she advised vulnerable groups, including children and individuals with health conditions, to stay indoors and avoid outdoor physical activity due to potential lingering pollutants in the air.
Fire officials echoed the warning, advising the public to stay vigilant in case further shelter-in-place advisories became necessary, depending on wind conditions and the movement of the chemical plume.
The impacted zone covered five municipalities along the coast, including Vilanova i la Geltrú, Cubelles, Roquetes (Sant Pere de Ribes), Cunit and Calafell, near Tarragona.
According to a post on X by the fire department on Saturday morning, ‘no casualties’ had been reported. They also noted that a significant number of units were deployed to control the blaze.
The service reported that it was ‘monitoring the column (of gas) caused by the blaze for changes and for its toxic levels’.
To restrict access to the hazardous area, authorities temporarily closed nearby roads and railway stations. The trains running south from Barcelona were stopped at stations north of Vilanova.
‘It is very difficult for chlorine to catch fire but when it does so it is very hard to put it out,’ warehouse owner Jorge Viñuales Alonso said in an interview with local radio station Rac1.
He speculated that a lithium battery may have sparked the fire.
Speaking to public broadcaster TVE, Vilanova’s mayor Juan Luis Ruiz López stated that with the fire under control, ‘this toxic cloud will start to dissipate and we can lift the measures currently imposed’.
(Main image posted by Catalan Fire Brigade @bomberscat on X).
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🔥 Incendi a nau #Vng
— Policia Local Vilanova i la Geltrú ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ (@PLVNG) May 10, 2025
⚠️ L’empresa, dedicada al manteniment de piscines, conté clor i s’ha creat un núvol que resulta perillós per a la seguretat de les persones.
‼️ S’informa que es CONFINA la població
⛔️ Eviteu apropar-se al lloc
ℹ️ Tanqueu finestres i portes pic.twitter.com/UKJdDYtaVK
Treballem amb quatre línies d’aigua des de la façana principal i posterior de la nau amb especial atenció a la columna que es genera en entrar en contacte el clor i anem fent mesuraments de les concentracions que presenta l’aire.#bomberscat #PLASEQCAT @emergenciescat pic.twitter.com/7nkxaww0kH
— Bombers (@bomberscat) May 10, 2025
Actualització (12:30 h)
— Protecció civil (@emergenciescat) May 10, 2025
– S’aixeca el confinament general però es manté únicament per a persones vulnerables.
– El #PLASEQCAT passa d’Emergència a Alerta.
– Es demana precaució. Estigueu atents a les possibles novetats en quant a les mesures de #ProteccióCivil#AlertaCat pic.twitter.com/meHobXfxa7
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