The fires declared in Barcelona over the years are an indicator of the state of prevention in the city at each point in time. Joan Pedreny, former chief of the Division for Prevention and Civil Protection, and Pere González, former chief with the Barcelona Fire Service, will be looking at some of the large fires that have shaped the history of the city in the lecture “Large fires in Barcelona, 1800 – 2020”. The lecture will be given at the Espai Bombers on Thursday, 12 January, at 7 pm (in Catalan).
In the first half of the 19th century Barcelona was a walled city with a growing population, very precarious public health conditions and a difficult social panorama. During the first industrial revolution, the risk of fire increased considerably as a result of all buildable space being occupied and new energies introduced: steam-powered machinery, which would often blow up, and gas lighting.
In the years that followed, the social and political crises of the period brought revolts and popular uprisings with numerous fires deliberately started, such as the burning of convents and the factory El Vapor Bonaplata, in 1835.
Even though a first company of municipal firefighters was created in 1833, fire prevention and extinction received neither the support nor the funding required and there was a lack of legislation adopting fire prevention criteria. It was in this context that one of the big fires that shaped the city occurred, the fire at El Liceu in 1861.
The accelerated growth that Barcelona experienced in the years that followed also meant an increase in fires, such as the one at the Teatre Principal de Gràcia (1915), the one at the Nuevo Vulcano workshops (1924) and other more recent ones, such as those at Iberia Radio (1971) and the Torre Telefònica (1973).
If you’d like to know more about these and other fires which have shaped the history of Barcelona, sign up for the lecture by sending an email to espaibombers@bcn.cat.
This lecture forms part of the cycle “The Fire Service and its History”, an activity linked to the exhibition “Protecting Barcelona. Firefighters and Fire Prevention 1833-2022”, which explains how fire prevention measures have been applied in the city from when the Barcelona Fire Service was created. The exhibition is on at the MUHBA Oliva Artés until 30 June.