In less than two hours, the Aldi supermarket was reduced to ashes on the outskirts of Bourg-Madame (Pyrénées-Orientales), a town on the border with Spain. The fire broke out shortly before 2 p.m., this Monday, December 30, 2024, while this recently built 1,000 m2 business with a wooden frame was operating normally, a few hours before the last end-of-year celebration.
The eight employees as well as all the customers present were able to be evacuated without difficulty and quickly at the first signs of the fire. The disaster caused no injuries or anyone was poisoned by this major fire which generated a plume of smoke visible several tens of kilometers around in the Haute Cerdagne region. During the afternoon, 73 firefighters intervened to control the flames. French firefighters, but also Spaniards based at the nearby Puigcerdá barracks.
Firefighters managed to put out the fire after two hours of effort. They also managed to protect the residential houses in this developing area on departmental road 70, which leads from Bourg-Madame to Osséja, still in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
At the end of the afternoon and while the smoke was dissipating, the origin of this large fire was not officially established. But it seems that the accidental hypothesis seems favored, possibly linked to work carried out on the roof of this recent building.
