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The building early on Friday morning. AFP
Tragedy in Valencia

At least six dead and 13 missing in Valencia tower block fire

Emergency services confirmed that 14 people were injured in the blaze that devoured the building on Thursday evening

A. Serrano

Valencia

Friday, 23 February 2024, 09:46

Fire devastated two blocks of flats, of 14 and 10 floors respectively on Thursday night in Campamar, a district of Valencia city. On Friday morning six had been confirmed dead, a family with two small children and an elderly couple.

Up to 13 people were still missing and another 14 injured (six of them firefighters), according to deputy director of emergencies in Valencia, Jorge Suárez.

The flames spread with unusual speed across the façade and a huge column of smoke could be seen from several towns near the city for much of the afternoon and evening.

Suárez explained that a drone from the emergency services had recorded images of four burnt bodies on a balcony and in a house. While fighting the blaze, firefighters managed to rescue a couple who were trapped on a balcony, a man and a woman. Some residents of the lower floors managed to save their lives by jumping onto emergency mattresses placed by firefighters.

Cooling the building

Firefighters remained throughout the night cooling the burned buildings, which were flame-free early on Friday morning, as firefighters worked on cooling the buildings; the area remained cordoned off.

The fire started, for reasons as yet unknown, shortly before 6pm in a flat on the seventh floor of the complex, which consists of two blocks and is located in the Campanar district of Valencia city. It then spread acorss the entire façade within minutes. After receiving the first reports from residents, several fire brigades rushed to the scene. Ambulances and police patrols were also mobilised. The force of the flames was so great that a large part of the area near the damaged building had to be evacuated.

A recently built apartment block on the outskirts of Valencia

Between Avenida Maestro Rodrigo and Avenida General Avilés

VALENCIA

The fire apparently started in flat 86, on the seventh floor, at around 5.30pm

Built in 2008, it has 138 apartments, 15 storeys

and three underground garages

The fire spread up and down the façade

El incendio se extendió hacia la segunda torre

Chimney effect

Initial theories point to the fire spreading so fast due topolyurethane used in the panels that covered the building

Wind: gusts of up to 60km/h

outside the building

Inside

the building

Av. General Avilés

Site covers 3,724 m2

Start of the fire

N

Av. Maestro Rodrigo

Fuente: Emergencias, Catastro y elaboración propia

RC/LP

A new building on the outskirts of Valencia

Between Avenida Maestro Rodrigo and Avenida General Avilés

VALENCIA

The fire apparently started in flat 86, on the seventh floor, at around 5.30pm

Built in 2008, it has 138 apartments, 15 storeys

and three underground garages

The fire spread up and down the façade

The fire spread to the second tower

Chimney effect

The first theories point to the fire spreading due to thepolyurethane used in the panels that covered the building

Wind: gusts of up to 60km/h

outside the building

Inside

the building

RC/LP

Av. General Avilés

Site covers 3,724 m2

Start of the fire

Av. Maestro Rodrigo

N

Fuente: Emergencias, Catastro y elaboración propia

COLPISA/LAS PROVINCIAS

A new building on the outskirts of Valencia

Between Avenida Maestro Rodrigo and Avenida General Avilés

VALENCIA

Wind: gusts of up to 60km/h

The fire spread up and down

the façade

The fire spread to the second tower

The fire apparently started in flat 86, on the seventh floor, at around 5.30pm

Chimney effect

The first theories point to the fire spreading due to the polyurethane used in the panels that covered the building

Built in 2008, it has 138 apartments, 15 storeys

and three underground garages

Outside the building

Inside

the building

Av. General Avilés

Site covers 3,724 m2

Start of the fire

Av. Maestro Rodrigo

N

COLPISA/LAS PROVINCIAS

Source: Emergencias, Catastro and SUR

At least six firefighters were injured during the operation. By midnight the building had beenr educed to a charred skeleton, with some flames still burning. The fire had caused constant powerful explosions that shocked residents. Given the high temperatures in the building, emergency services had not been able to enter the building at 1am to search for possible victims and assess the risk of collapse.

Paramedics assisted 14 people affected by the fire at the scene: nine were men (six of them firefighters), aged between 25 and 57; another four women aged between 27 and 81; and also a seven-year-old child. With the exception of two women who were well enough to leave, the rest were taken to different hospitals in the Valencia.

The force of the wind worked against the fire brigade throughout the evening, causing the water from the hoses to fall short of the façade. They were therefore concentrating on saving the three flats that had not yet burnt on one of the façades. The high flammability of these, apparently covered with polyurethane panels, was the wick that caused the fire to spread voraciously. The panels even broke off and burst into flames in the street, to the panic of witnesses and residents.

Rescued from a balcony

Firefighters focused their efforts on accessing the sixth and seventh floors of the building, as there were residents trapped there. Meanwhile, a man and a woman were signalling frantically from a balcony. The two were leaning out, trying to jump to the other house, while the firemen tried to gain access to them. Amid cries for help, the couple were finally rescued at around 8pm.

According to emergency services sources, neighbours had told the first police officers who arrived at the burning building that most of the residents had left their homes. However, they were unsure of the whereabouts of other residents. In total, some 450 people lived in the two blockss of flats that were devastated. One of them alone had almost 140 flats.

The videos recorded by neighbours went viral after being shared on WhatsApp groups. In one of the most shared videos, a firefighter jumps from a height of approximately 10 metres onto an inflatable mattress deployed by his colleagues. Another video corresponds to the precise moment of the rescue, with a fire engine ladder, of two people who were trapped on a balcony.

The authorities, dismayed

The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, and the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, as well as the delegate of the Government in the Comunitat Valenciana, Pilar Bernabé, and several regional councillors, who in addition to being «dismayed» by what had happened, asked the residents of the city not to go near the area so as not to hinder the work of the emergency services. All of them followed the extinguishing and rescue work in situ for several hours from an emergency office set up for this purpose to coordinate the aid work.

Valencia city council decreed three days of mourning and announced that an emergency meeting of the council will be held this Friday to analyse what has happened. For the time being, all Fallas events scheduled until next Sunday have been suspended.

The head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, was also "dismayed" by the fire that broke out in Valencia and called both the Valencian president and the mayor to "find out first-hand about the situation and offer all the help that is necessary". The leader of the opposition and head of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, followed the events with "great concern", while showing his "support and confidence in the firefighters and security forces working at the scene, and in each of the professionals who have gone to help."

Fire brigades, police, medical services...

In addition to a dozen fire brigades from Valencia, National and Local Police units, from the Campanar neighbourhood where the residential building that practically burned on all four sides is located, there were five SAMU healthcare vehicles, two other basic life support units, two conventional ambulances, two primary care medical teams, a support and coordination unit, a vehicle for multiple victim care and a field hospital. There was also a team of psychologists to attend to the victims' families and neighbours affected by this tragic event.

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