Around 70 people received medical care and eight were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a care home in L'Ametlla del Vallès.
The blaze began on Tuesday night inside a first-floor room of the four-storey building located on Calle Llenora in the Barcelona municipality. Emergency responders confirmed that eight individuals were transferred to nearby hospitals in a less severe condition following smoke inhalation.
According to the Medical Emergency System of Catalonia, four of the injured residents were admitted to the Hospital of Granollers. The remaining four patients were transported to the Hospital of Mollet for further treatment.
At the time of the incident, 80 residents and six staff members were inside the building. Paramedics treated 37 individuals at the scene, while 33 others remained confined inside their rooms while medical staff conducted health evaluations.
Emergency response and building evacuation
The Catalan Firefighters received the initial emergency alert at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Emergency dispatchers initially deployed nine fire appliances to the scene, later increasing the response team to 13 specialized vehicles.
The response fleet comprised seven water tenders, one turntable ladder unit, and five light support vehicles. Ten medical emergency units also responded to Calle Llenora, including two joint operational units shared between paramedics and fire crews.
Fire crews quickly targeted the flames in several affected bedrooms on the first floor. As a precautionary measure, emergency workers evacuated all occupants from both the first and second floors, relocating most of them to a safe, smoke-free assembly area on the ground floor.
While flames were confined to the first floor, smoke spread into upper levels of the four-storey facility. Heavy smoke filled sections of the second floor, while lighter smoke reached parts of the third floor.
Containment measures and facility status
Firefighters successfully extinguished the main blaze and spent the overnight hours ventilating smoke from the upper corridors. Crews remained on site to extinguish remaining hot spots and inspect every bedroom across all four levels of the building.
Once the fire was controlled, emergency responders allowed specific groups of residents to remain safely in place. Eight people remained confined in their rooms on the first floor, several residents stayed on the second floor, and all occupants on the third floor were safely confined to their rooms.
Local context and emergency operations
L'Ametlla del Vallès is a municipality located in the Vallès Oriental county, within the province of Barcelona in northeastern Spain. The town sits near the regional hub of Granollers in the autonomous community of Catalonia.
Emergency medical services across Catalonia are managed by the Medical Emergency System, known locally as SEM. Fire fighting and rescue operations in the region outside the city of Barcelona are handled by the Catalan Firefighters, operated by the regional government.
Firefighters said crews are continuing to monitor the facility, ventilate affected areas, and check structural conditions to ensure the residence is fully secure.
