Two firefighters dead and more than a dozen others affected by fumes during huge blaze at community garage in Spain

Investigators are probing whether the fire was sparked by an electric vehicle in a car park for residents in Alcorcón

Melchor Sáiz-Pardo

Madrid

Wednesday, 2 April 2025, 20:40

Two firefighters died in Spain this Wednesday afternoon (2 April) and 14 others were injured - one of them seriously and the rest slightly - while fighting a huge fire that broke out in the garage of a building in the Madrid region town of Alcorcón and whose origin seems to be an electric car. All the injured firefighters were treated for inhalation of fumes at the scene by the SUMMA112 ambulance service, which, given the number of people affected, had to deploy an advanced medical post. One of them had to be intubated and transferred to Getafe hospital. Another resident of the area also required hospital care at Alcorcón hospital.

According to sources from Emergencias Madrid, the fire broke out at around 4pm in a vehicle that was parked in a garage in Calle Lilos, in the Las Retamas neighbourhood of this town in the south of Madrid.

Initial hypotheses suggest that the first of the deceased firefighters was caught in a blast that affected several parked cars. This large-scale explosion was allegedly caused by a fire in an electric car which had crashed when its owner was driving it into the garage. The second firefighter died from the inhalation of fumes while he was being transferred to the University Hospital of Getafe. All the injured and deceased were members of the Alcorcón fire brigade.

The virulence of the explosion, the flames and the intense smoke made it necessary to confine the residents of the building and neighbouring areas to their homes. According to some of those responsible for the rescue operation, the internal layout of the car park, with hardly any ventilation, meant that the heat from the original fire could not dissipate, so that very high temperatures were reached inside the building, which, as well as making it difficult to extinguish, probably caused other parked cars to explode.

Firefighters from the Madrid region rushed to support their colleagues from Alcorcón. Numerous vehicles from 112 Emergencias Madrid were also deployed to the area.

Members of the municipal authorities as well as representatives of the Madrid region and central government delegate Francisco Martín attended the scene of the incident.

The president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, expressed her "regret" at the death of the two firefighters from Alcorcón while trying to put out a fire that broke out in a garage of a residents' association. "We send all our love to their friends and family. May these two brave servants rest in peace," she said.

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