Drill towers are used for training exercises (height rescues, fire drills, etc.) in order to maintain and improve the quality of the service. The new tower joins those already in place at the Zona Franca, Levant, Sant Andreu and Montjuïc fire stations. A 4×4 ambulance has also been purchased. In 2023, the Barcelona Fire Service has carried out more than 21,000 services, including more than 1,000 in homes.
The construction of the drill tower at the Vall d’Hebron fire station required an investment of more than €2.5 million. It has the potential to improve the training of operational personnel and represents a new and modern approach to the use of drill towers.
The aim is to allow the simultaneous performance of several exercises in the Barcelona Fire Service’s different training areas:
- Height rescues in a variety of scenarios. Double or triple rooms, sloping surfaces, confined spaces with shaft access, building façades, balconies and windows, monkey ladders, etc.
- Indoor and outdoor fires with different progressions. Fire drills on different floors of buildings using fire engines, aerial ladders and standpipe support.
- Search exercises in homes. A small block of flats is simulated with its own staircase leading up three floors.
- Technical assistance. Identifying, locating and plugging leaks of various hazardous products, gas detection, etc.
- Exercises related to structural pathologies in buildings. Shoring up construction elements such as framing, dentils, sloping surfaces and stairs.
- Health interventions. Assistance and support for victims in high-risk situations at heights, in confined spaces, in house fires, etc.
The new tower has a ground floor and eight upper floors. The roof, which is flat, accessible and more than 24 metres above the courtyard, is also equipped for height rescue exercises and operations using the standpipe that extends up to it.
In addition, a maze has been constructed on Floor -2, which can be filled with paraffin smoke for exercises involving locating and rescuing victims, navigating in poor or no visibility, or following routes with complex layouts.
Four rooms per floor have also been designed to allow for a variety of indoor spatial situations. These spaces can be empty or full, open or closed, and even made of removable tramex (metal grating) to create holes for specific exercises.
These rooms also have stairs of different shapes and materials that allow for alternative routes and exercises. It is also possible to create large empty spaces by connecting two or three rooms for vertical exercises.
Around this core is an outer area of corridors and a fire escape. This vertical ladder provides access to all parts of the façade and connects all levels of the tower without interfering with the activities taking place inside. It also allows access to the attached scaffolding from different working levels.
New 4×4 ambulance
The Barcelona Fire Service continues to modernise and expand its fleet and has added a 4×4 ambulance, the first of its kind in the metropolitan area. The vehicle’s four-wheel drive allows it to operate in rural and wooded areas, and it has a specially designed stretcher carrier for off-road driving.
The unit will be used throughout Barcelona, with a particular focus on the districts of Sarrià, Gràcia, Nou Barris and El Carmel, as it will be based at the Vall d’Hebron fire station. However, its real added value will be in services that require it to operate on unpaved roads or in extreme weather conditions (heavy rain, frost or snowstorms).
Barcelona Fire Service responds to more than 60 calls a day
By 21 December, the Barcelona Fire Service had carried out 21,386 rescue, fire, explosion, technical assistance and prevention operations. This equates to more than 60 operations per day. Of these, 1,625 were indoor fires, including 1,088 in homes.
It also provides many non-emergency services to help the public, including building sanitation, shoring operations and dealing with heavy rain, water or gas leaks, and liquid spills.
The Barcelona Fire Service also continues to take preventive measures to minimise the risk of fire in the city’s various activities and carries out actions to improve its knowledge of the surroundings of possible interventions (road network and accesses, buildings and individual elements, shelter services, etc.). These activities increase efficiency and safety.
The Barcelona Fire Service’s best tool: prevention
Barcelona City Council has made prevention and emergency response its top priorities to ensure a safe city. It is not enough to react to incidents when they occur: they must be anticipated and minimised. And when they do occur, it is important to ensure that the consequences are as limited as possible.
A number of actions are being taken to achieve this:
- Promoting research and development (R&D) in fire prevention through collaboration and knowledge transfer with experts (universities, professional associations, companies), signing collaboration agreements on strategic projects and participating in fire prevention forums. It is also important to carry out tests, drills and trials on fire protection materials, equipment and systems.
- Conducting research into fires to understand their causes and how they spread. These investigations make it possible to identify and eliminate the causes of fires by establishing preventive or corrective measures. The experience gained can also be put to good use. In this regard, the Fire Analysis, Research and Investigation Unit is being set up to carry out post-incident investigations of all fires involving casualties or serious damage to buildings, working directly with the police forces.
- Raising awareness of fire prevention. The City Council is working to promote the Espai Bombers as a leading centre for the transfer and dissemination of fire prevention knowledge. The centre’s museum space has increased the presence of items relating to the dissemination of risk prevention and self-protection.
- Using the PREvenim vehicle, purchased last year, to disseminate fire prevention and self-protection measures to children and young people from different schools in the city. This task is also carried out in the Vall d’Hebron Prevention Lecture Hall, which has more than 150 square metres dedicated to the dissemination of fire prevention and self-protection.