Years ago, in what was the central park and flagship of the Barcelona Fire Department on Carrer Provença, an individual crept up to the first floor and entered one of the rooms. When he was woken up in one of the beds, the man said he thought it was a hostel.
Like this anecdote, the firefighters with the most fires tell a few. The latest unauthorized raid on a municipal fire station has the particularity of having a video that has been leaked and gone viral. It is about a young student from Finland who, today, still does not know how she got to the Montjuïc park playground and fell fast asleep inside one of the vehicles.
The events happened last Saturday, coinciding with the change of shifts C and D, between seven and eight in the morning. During those two hours, the entry and exit of staff from each shift took place, overlapping the presence so that the service was not discovered.
The Montjuïc fire station is on Passeig Josep Carner, at the foot of Montjuïc. The facility has the main vehicle access and a door for people, without cameras, and controlled by a telephone operator who is waiting for it, in addition to other functions. The back of the patio is connected by a door that connects to a field where the fire brigade is stationed. Once they park, they access the park through this door, which is open during these hours.
Every day, the shift that comes on duty checks the vehicles. And the last to be inspected is usually the so-called mike, a van used to move material. This car, with the keys in it, is in the central courtyard. When the fireman in charge of the inspection approached, he discovered a young woman fast asleep in the co-pilot’s seat.
Immediately, the firefighter reported the discovery to his sergeant, who woke the young woman up by knocking on the glass. The woman had locked herself inside. The performance was recorded precisely to guarantee it. Firefighters first inspected the young woman, who was fine, but was undocumented, did not have a phone or any personal belongings, and who assured in English that she was a student in Barcelona and that she did not remember how she had arrived that fire engine.
Those responsible for the shift alerted the Urban Guard, who went there and managed the return of the young woman to her home. The City Council’s Security Department has opened an internal investigation to determine how the young woman was able to sneak into the facility. Fire stations have never been an armored bunker, and in recent times access restrictions have multiplied. Except for the sleeping young woman, who skipped them all.
