The Barcelona Fire Department detects and reports on average about ten homes in a situation of energy poverty each week. Since 2017, when a specific protocol began to be applied for members of the force to alert about possible cases in the Emergency and Social Emergencies Center and in the Energy Advisory Points of the City Council, 3,629 reports have been prepared.
This was explained to the ACN agency by the head of the territorial operational unit, Rubén Estela, who detailed that the figures are “stable” and that, on average, the Firefighters carry out 1.2 services a day in which they detect elements related to this problem.
The Firefighters unions of the Generalitat and the Alliance Against Energy Poverty (APE) have asked the Interior to follow the Barcelona example and activate for all of Catalonia the protocol agreed upon 7 years ago to “combat this scourge.”
Energy poverty is a problem that has become widespread in recent years in Catalonia and the rest of Spain, since 20% of the population is unable to keep a home at the appropriate temperature during the coldest months, according to the latest Living Conditions Survey.
In this context, in 2017, the Barcelona Fire Department began to apply a specific protocol to “bring to light potential needs” not identified by the municipal protection network.
Rubén Estela, head of the Territorial Operational Unit of the Barcelona Fire Brigade, explained that the fact that the forces of the force could access the interior of homes without prior notice was seen “as an opportunity”. “It generated the possibility of observing if there were signs that could attract attention and opened the door to the problem that these people suffered could have a course of solution,” he commented.
Thus, in collaboration with the Center for Emergencies and Social Emergencies of Barcelona (CUESB) and the Energy Advisory Points, both belonging to the Barcelona city council, a protocol was developed with a series of items and steps to follow in this type of situation.
Lack of supplies and health problems
Estela has detailed that this operation focuses on two large areas of observation. On the one hand, everything related to basic supplies of gas, water and electricity. Among the evidence that may raise suspicion are that the home’s electrical network is inactive, that there are tapped or unprotected supplies, rudimentary stoves or heating systems, or that the property contains a high number of full bottles because the home does not. It has running water.
The other field that the Firefighters look at when determining a possible case of energy poverty is related to the health of the property in question. “Some of the elements to take into account would be the presence of leaks, humidity, lack of basic maintenance or accumulations of waste that could indicate a possible Diogenes syndrome,” explained Estela.
Thus, the head of the Operational Unit explained that in accordance with the work of observing these elements, the Barcelona Firefighters prepare reports that are then sent to the CUESB or the Energy Advisory Points. “The objective is to be able to contact the person and attend to them properly,” said the firefighter.
Thus, he detailed that since the entry into force of this protocol, the Barcelona Fire Department has prepared 3,629 reports related to energy poverty. According to Estela, these data are “stable” and there has been no upward progression. In 2017, 415 were made; in 2018, a total of 524; 498 in 2019; 464 in 2020; 429 in 2021; 491 in 2022, and 438 in 2023. Regarding this year, from January to September 370 have been registered
Estela has stated that the profiles that suffer from energy poverty are also varied. It has highlighted the existence of older people who throughout their lives have had a good economic level or who have assets, but who over the years have seen their purchasing power and vitality reduced. “These are the typical cases in which we would say ‘I would never have said that’,” said Estela, who explained that population aging is having a lot to do with it.
The number of rescues soars
“We have a city where the average age of the population is increasingly higher and where there are many older people who live alone and do not always have a network to rely on,” he assured. In this sense, he highlighted that in the last ten or twelve years, the number of rescues carried out by the Barcelona Firefighters has grown by 100%, going from 4,000 to 8,000 annually.
“We have seen that at an urban level we have sustained growth in services linked to fires or technical assistance, but, on the contrary, rescue services have skyrocketed,” he stated. Although he admitted that this section includes various rescues, he recalled that one of the most common is the one that refers to home visits to help elderly people.
More than seven years of delays
Although the Barcelona Fire Department is the only body in Catalonia that has been able to deploy a specific protocol to detect situations of energy poverty, the truth is that the idea of creating this procedure arose in 2016 as a joint claim by the Alliance against Poverty. Energy, members of the Barcelona Fire Brigade and those of the Generalitat.
Josep Babot, spokesperson for the APE, explained that this initiative was shared and that both Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat committed to implementing the protocol. “In the case of the Catalan capital, the initiative was implemented in 2017, and in the first year and a half of operation it already allowed more than 700 cases to be detected,” said Babot, who acknowledged that unfortunately, the measure did not prosper in the body. of the Generalitat Firefighters.
He reported that in 2018 a pilot test was launched in five fire stations in Catalonia (Hospitalet de Llobregat, Terrassa, Badalona, Girona and Lleida) and that shortly afterwards it was extended to two others. “This was in 2019, and since then we have not made any further progress, and the plan has been deflating,” he assured. Babot added that a training video was even developed to explain the importance of the protocol.
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