Four dead in Valencia
High-rise building burns like a huge torch, “as if it were made of straw”
Watch the video: Major fire in Valencia – high-rise building resembles a torch of fire.
Video source: RTL
In Valencia, the fire in a high-rise building brings back memories of the devastating fire in London’s Grenfell Tower. The apartment block in the eastern Spanish metropolis was also clad with highly flammable polyurethane.
At least four people have died in a high-rise building fire in Valencia. According to the fire department, an estimated 14 other people were injured in the fire on Thursday evening in the eastern Spanish port city, including six firefighters. It was unclear whether people were still missing, said deputy rescue chief Jorge Suárez Torres on Friday night.
The building, which was only a few years old and had 138 apartments on 15 floors, was completely engulfed in flames in a very short time and at times resembled a huge torch. The fire broke out in an apartment on one of the lower floors and spread so quickly across the facade partly because of strong winds, the television station TVE reported.
22 fire-fighting teams were deployed. Footage shared online showed firefighters rescuing a father and his daughter from a balcony.
A representative of the local engineering chamber told broadcaster A Punt that the fire was able to spread so quickly because the facade was covered with highly flammable polyurethane. Local resident Luis Ibanez told TVE that the building was ablaze “within minutes,” “as if it were made of straw.”
Authorities in Valencia are building a field hospital
The authorities set up a field hospital near the major fire in the evening as a precaution, Spanish media reported. In addition, help was requested from soldiers from the military emergency aid unit UME to fight the flames, the state TV broadcaster RTVE reported. The UME is otherwise used in large forest fires.
The extinguishing work continued on Friday night. According to media reports, the four fatalities were discovered with the help of drones; the firefighting teams were initially unable to enter the building.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reacted with shock to the “terrible fire”. He promised the local authorities “all necessary support,” he said on the online service X, formerly Twitter.
The case brings back memories of the tragedy at London’s Grenfell Tower in 2017. 72 people were killed when the 24-story apartment building burned. In this case, too, the fire spread through the highly combustible facade cladding. The investigation into the case is still ongoing.
10 pictures
See the photo series in our archive: On the night of June 14, 2017, a fire broke out in Grenfell Tower, setting the entire building on fire across the facade and killing 72 people. Five years later, the fire disaster has still not been dealt with.