The Barcelona Fire Department collaborates actively with various non-governmental humanitarian aid organizations around the world. It is the will of service and the satisfaction of helping that moves the firemen inside and beyond our borders.
In October 1969 there was a fire without precedents in Spain due to its magnitude at the Oil Refinery of Escombreras (Cartagena). The first to intervene were the firefighters of Murcia as well as firefighters of the Air Force and the Spanish War Navy . Vehicles and firefighters from other main cities throughout the country including Barcelona also attended.
The Barcelona firefighters had a brilliant performance at Escombreras that brought to them a great recognition nationwide.
On May 17, 1890 there was a fierce fire in a warehouse in Havana where illegal gunpowder and dynamite were stored. The fire and the subsequent explosion caused the death of 38 people (25 volunteer firefighters among them).
The commotion was general and crossed borders. Barcelona firefighters, in solidarity with the Havana firefighters, later sent an album with images of the body and a plaque in memory of the firefighters affected. This gesture meant a series of exchanges of letters and documentation between the firefighters and municipal representatives of Havana and Barcelona.
The Great Flood of Valencia or colloquially, “La Gran Riuà”, was the last flood of the Túria river in the city of Valencia that occurred in October 1957 when the river was overflowing as a result of heavy rains.
The flood reached heights of more than three meters in points of the center of Valencia and many buildings (even some historical ones) were seriously affected. Many human losses also ocurred.
Barcelona firefighters were voluntarily displaced to Valencia to help in rescue operations.
