Alex Trelinski
FIRE crews battled for nearly four hours on Monday evening to extinguish a blaze in an area filled with vehicles destroyed by the Valencia floods.
The fire was on land on Calle Sequia Rascanya in Catarroja and started at around 7.30pm.
The flames caused explosions in the cars which made work difficult for firefighters.
READ MORE:
The smoke was visible over a large area and councils in Catarroja and neighbouring Albal asked residents to keep their windows closed as a precaution.
Fire crews managed to move some of the cars- of which there were hundreds- to create a firebreak to stop the blaze reaching homes in the Villa Carmen area.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
Catarroja mayor, Lorena Silvent, said that when crews arrived there were 30 vehicles on fire.
“The fire has been controlled at all times, but due to the toxicity of the environment, we recommended to nearby residents to stay in their homes with the windows closed,” Silvent said.
Silvent added that the field had some cars removed already but were being replaced by others which had still to be decontaminated.
Valencian Emergencies Minister, Juan Carlos Valderrama, said 50 vehicles had been set on fire, and that the issue of car cemeteries ‘worries us a lot’.
He is set to have a meeting this Tuesday with emergency officials to ensure that there is surveillance of vehicle camps as well as dump sites where destroyed items caused by the flood are held.
Meanwhile, smoke forced the evacuation on Monday of two nursing homes in Alberic after a landfill site containing items dumped from flood-hit homes caught fire early on Sunday morning.
Mayor Antonio Carratala said that work is progressing favourably and it is expected that the fire can be extinguished on Tuesday and air quality will be measured to see if the residents can return home.
