Just a few weeks ago we talked to you about the fire that affected the SEAT factory in Barcelona and which threatened warehouse A122. Well, today we are going to tell you some of the details of the rescue action of the 317 historic units that are located in that space that our Guilherme Costa was even able to visit.
Of course, the task of saving more than 300 historic vehicles without suffering any damage, it was only possible thanks to the rapid intervention of SEAT officials and firefighters from Barcelona. To this factor was added a well-planned rescue criterion that allowed this to be done efficiently and without any car being damaged.
Proof of this quick response are the statements of Isidre López who said: "We started to contain the fire with the hoses installed for this function and the Security and Emergency services of SEAT and the Fire Department of Barcelona arrived quickly". Isidre López added: “For me they are heroes. The attitude of all the teams was impressive”.
The classic rescue criteria
According to Isidre López, the rescue criterion was as follows: “First we removed those at the entrance to the pavilion to create a space (…) for the firefighters to work (…). we took out the Popemobile, who was right in front of the fire”.
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Speaking of popemobile , the rescue of this unique vehicle was made easier due to the fact that it has no roof, which made it easier to push it. Will it be the smallest popemobile ever? The reason for its creation, based on the small SEAT Panda (it wasn't Marbella at that time), was the fact that the vehicle the Pope used on his official visits did not fit outside the Camp Nou and the Santiago Bernabéu.
The timing of the SEAT Panda Papamóvel rescue would also be recorded for prosperity through a tweet posted while the fire raged:
@VirutasF1 Fire in the Seat de la Zona Franca factory. Barcelona. Arde el museum of mythical coaches Seat. ?? pic.twitter.com/p7o2Z7KFZA
— Alberto Cebrian (@alcebrian) 11 February 2019
In addition to the Papamóvel, there were models such as Carlos Sainz's first rally car, the penultimate SEAT 600 or the electric SEAT Toledo from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, among others.