TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Spanish authorities issued a new shelter-in-place order for over 160,000 people near the city of Barcelona for nearly seven hours over the weekend. As reported by France24, this order came after a fire at an industrial warehouse released a toxic chlorine cloud into the area.
The fire in the coastal town of Vilanova i la Geltru, just south of Barcelona, started early on Saturday in a warehouse storing pool cleaning products, according to the regional fire service.
The civil protection service instructed residents to stay indoors and close windows before lifting the restrictions around midday.
"The lockdown is being lifted," said Catalonia's interior minister, Nuria Parlo, in a press conference just after 12:15 pm local time on Saturday.
Because some hazardous particles could linger in the air, she urged children and those with health conditions to remain indoors. She also warned residents not to exercise outdoors at that time.
Spanish firefighters also urged residents to remain cautious, saying that new shelter-in-place orders might be announced in specific areas, depending on the wind and movement of the toxic cloud.
The at-risk area spans five local districts along the coast, from Vilanova i la Geltru to Calafell, near Tarragona. "No casualties have been reported," said a fire department official on Saturday morning, adding that they had deployed many units to control the fire.
It was said that they were "monitoring the column (of gas) caused by the blaze for changes and for its toxic levels."
Authorities closed roads in the area and shut down train stations to prevent people from approaching the affected area.
"It is very difficult for chlorine to catch fire but when it does so it is very hard to put it out," warehouse owner Jorge Vinuales Alonso told local radio station Rac1.
He said the possible cause of the fire might be lithium batteries.
Vilanova's mayor, Juan Luis Ruiz Lopez, told public television TVE that authorities estimated that, with the fire successfully extinguished, "this toxic cloud will start to dissipate and we can lift the measures currently imposed."
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