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23 February 2024
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Major high-rise apartment block fire in València kills ten people, Spain
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On Thursday, 22 February 2024, at approximately 17h30 CET, a devastating fire broke out in a 14-storey luxury residential complex located in the Campanar district of València, Spain. The rapid spread of the fire exacerbated by strong winds, building materials and a stack effect, led to the complete destruction of the complex's 138 apartments, trapping numerous residents inside. Ten bodies were recovered from the building following an inspection by forensic police and 15 people were injured during the fire, including several firefighters.
The fire, fanned by strong winds, engulfed the block in Valencia's El Campanar district within half an hour on Thursday evening, witnesses said.
Because of the magnitude of the disaster, the civilian authorities also requested assistance from the Military Emergencies Unit. About 40 fire engines and ninety soldiers were deployed. A field hospital was also set up in the area.
During the morning of 23 February the fire brigade was unable to search for missing people inside the apartment complex due to the extreme heat in the building. Drones were utilised by rescue workers to search the building while emergency personal worked to cool the exterior, in order to locate the bodies of potential victims.
It is believed that immediately after the fire broke out in a seventh-floor apartment at around 17h30 CET, many lives were saved by the actions of one of the building's doormen who banged on the residents' doors shouting "fire" and ordered them to evacuate the building. Multiple witnesses nearby captured the early stages of the blaze on their smartphones, showing how it quickly intensified and began spreading across the façade.
Firefighters, ambulances and law enforcement arrived at the scene soon after. Witnesses indicated that the fire had engulfed the entire first building "in a matter of 10 minutes" and soon spread to the second.
Due to the high temperatures firefighters were only able to access up to the 12th floor of the building but were able to rescue some residents. Winds of around 60 kilometres per hour (32kn) and gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour (54kn) were also recorded in the area at the time. Due to the strong wind, the fire was fanned and next to that the water jets were blown away from the building.
Two firefighters suffered serious injuries and were hospitalised. Half of the injured individuals as a result of the fire are firefighters who risked their lives battling the flames.
Footage of a firefighter jumping from a seventh floor balcony to a safety mat in order to evacuate was shown in multiple Spanish news outlets.
A father and daughter who were trapped on a balcony, were rescued by firefighters using an extendable fire ladder crane.
National government delegate in Valencia, Pilar Bernabé said 10 bodies were found in the first police inspection of the gutted residential buildings. She said the bodies matched with the list of 10 people that authorities had deemed missing.
Spanish National Television and private news agency Europa Press reported that four people who had initially been included in the missing list of 14 had been located alive by authorities.
Dental experts headed to Valencia from other parts of Spain to help identify charred bodies, while police collected DNA samples from relatives for the same purpose. An acrid smell hung in the air at the site of the fire.
The fire occurred in a two-building residential complex with an area of 3 724 square meters at the intersection of Avenida General Avilés and Avenida Maestro Rodrigo in the Campanar neighbourhood of València. The building, comprising two towers linked by what its developers described as a "panoramic lift", was completed in 2008, officials said. It had 138 apartments, newspaper El Pais reported.
Still shaken, one of the surviving residents, 53-year-old Jose Carlos Perez, told Reuters he grabbed what he could and rushed out of his 12th floor apartment after he saw smoke outside his window. "Physically, I'm dressed but inside I'm naked because I have nothing, because everything I had was there," Perez, who lived alone, said as he stood outside the SH Valencia Palace hotel, where more than 100 survivors like himself are being temporarily housed.
On Friday evening, authorities confirmed on X police had revised the number of dead to nine from 10 in the process of identifying the bodies in the building.
Valencians flocked to donate clothes, medicines and toys for surviving residents who lost all their belongings in the fire.
The director of the SH Valencia Palace hotel, Javier Valles, said they were temporarily housing 110 people and a regional official said they would receive money for daily costs. The majority of survivors are staying with relatives.
Visiting the scene on Friday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said residents "had lost everything in a matter of minutes in this terrible fire".
Experts suggested that a type of cladding might have made the blaze spread faster but Valencia Mayor María José Catalá said the cause of the fire was still not known and it was too early to comment on whether some materials used in construction of the modern complex might have contributed.
Esther Puchades, a representative of insurance inspection agency APCAS, said that a lack of firewalls and use of the plastic material polyurethane on the facade would have contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze, a comment evoking memories of the deadly Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017.
The association for the polyurethane industry said in a statement no polyurethane was used in the building's cladding. A 2007 promotional video by the building's developers highlighted the "innovative aluminium material" used to clad the building's exterior, which passed "rigorous quality checks". It did not mention polyurethane.
The spread of the 2017 fire in the Grenfell Tower block in west London that killed 71 people after an electrical fault was blamed on the use of highly flammable external cladding.
Residents of another block of flats in Valencia by the same developers expressed concern over the materials used on their own building and urged authorities to investigate. "Everyone is very worried," said 42-year-old resident Andrea Martinez, saying she would leave Valencia over the weekend as she needed to "disconnect" from what happened. "Things don't happen until they do."
Valencia decreed three days of mourning, cancelled local football matches and suspended the start of the city's month-long, annual "Fallas" festival, which features the torching of large cardboard statues and a fireworks display.
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Euro News
The fire, fanned by strong winds, engulfed the block in Valencia's El Campanar district within half an hour on Thursday evening, witnesses said.
Because of the magnitude of the disaster, the civilian authorities also requested assistance from the Military Emergencies Unit. About 40 fire engines and ninety soldiers were deployed. A field hospital was also set up in the area.
During the morning of 23 February the fire brigade was unable to search for missing people inside the apartment complex due to the extreme heat in the building. Drones were utilised by rescue workers to search the building while emergency personal worked to cool the exterior, in order to locate the bodies of potential victims.
It is believed that immediately after the fire broke out in a seventh-floor apartment at around 17h30 CET, many lives were saved by the actions of one of the building's doormen who banged on the residents' doors shouting "fire" and ordered them to evacuate the building. Multiple witnesses nearby captured the early stages of the blaze on their smartphones, showing how it quickly intensified and began spreading across the façade.
Firefighters, ambulances and law enforcement arrived at the scene soon after. Witnesses indicated that the fire had engulfed the entire first building "in a matter of 10 minutes" and soon spread to the second.
Due to the high temperatures firefighters were only able to access up to the 12th floor of the building but were able to rescue some residents. Winds of around 60 kilometres per hour (32kn) and gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour (54kn) were also recorded in the area at the time. Due to the strong wind, the fire was fanned and next to that the water jets were blown away from the building.
Two firefighters suffered serious injuries and were hospitalised. Half of the injured individuals as a result of the fire are firefighters who risked their lives battling the flames.
Footage of a firefighter jumping from a seventh floor balcony to a safety mat in order to evacuate was shown in multiple Spanish news outlets.
A father and daughter who were trapped on a balcony, were rescued by firefighters using an extendable fire ladder crane.
National government delegate in Valencia, Pilar Bernabé said 10 bodies were found in the first police inspection of the gutted residential buildings. She said the bodies matched with the list of 10 people that authorities had deemed missing.
Spanish National Television and private news agency Europa Press reported that four people who had initially been included in the missing list of 14 had been located alive by authorities.
Dental experts headed to Valencia from other parts of Spain to help identify charred bodies, while police collected DNA samples from relatives for the same purpose. An acrid smell hung in the air at the site of the fire.
The fire occurred in a two-building residential complex with an area of 3 724 square meters at the intersection of Avenida General Avilés and Avenida Maestro Rodrigo in the Campanar neighbourhood of València. The building, comprising two towers linked by what its developers described as a "panoramic lift", was completed in 2008, officials said. It had 138 apartments, newspaper El Pais reported.
Still shaken, one of the surviving residents, 53-year-old Jose Carlos Perez, told Reuters he grabbed what he could and rushed out of his 12th floor apartment after he saw smoke outside his window. "Physically, I'm dressed but inside I'm naked because I have nothing, because everything I had was there," Perez, who lived alone, said as he stood outside the SH Valencia Palace hotel, where more than 100 survivors like himself are being temporarily housed.
On Friday evening, authorities confirmed on X police had revised the number of dead to nine from 10 in the process of identifying the bodies in the building.
Valencians flocked to donate clothes, medicines and toys for surviving residents who lost all their belongings in the fire.
The director of the SH Valencia Palace hotel, Javier Valles, said they were temporarily housing 110 people and a regional official said they would receive money for daily costs. The majority of survivors are staying with relatives.
Visiting the scene on Friday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said residents "had lost everything in a matter of minutes in this terrible fire".
Experts suggested that a type of cladding might have made the blaze spread faster but Valencia Mayor María José Catalá said the cause of the fire was still not known and it was too early to comment on whether some materials used in construction of the modern complex might have contributed.
Esther Puchades, a representative of insurance inspection agency APCAS, said that a lack of firewalls and use of the plastic material polyurethane on the facade would have contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze, a comment evoking memories of the deadly Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017.
The association for the polyurethane industry said in a statement no polyurethane was used in the building's cladding. A 2007 promotional video by the building's developers highlighted the "innovative aluminium material" used to clad the building's exterior, which passed "rigorous quality checks". It did not mention polyurethane.
The spread of the 2017 fire in the Grenfell Tower block in west London that killed 71 people after an electrical fault was blamed on the use of highly flammable external cladding.
Residents of another block of flats in Valencia by the same developers expressed concern over the materials used on their own building and urged authorities to investigate. "Everyone is very worried," said 42-year-old resident Andrea Martinez, saying she would leave Valencia over the weekend as she needed to "disconnect" from what happened. "Things don't happen until they do."
Valencia decreed three days of mourning, cancelled local football matches and suspended the start of the city's month-long, annual "Fallas" festival, which features the torching of large cardboard statues and a fireworks display.
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Euro News
