A large fire is consuming a 14-story building in the Campanar neighborhood, in Valencia, where there are 138 homes and where about 450 residents live, but this figure may vary because there is a floating population, according to Adriana, the administrator. of the building's properties and neighboring the 12th floor. The fire generates a large column of flames and dense smoke that affects most of the floors of the block, located between Maestro Rodrigo and Poeta Rafael Alberti streets.
In just half an hour, the flames have affected the entire building, which was built in 2008, and, although the number of victims is not yet known, Emergencies have moved a field hospital to the site.
So far seven people have been treated.
Three of these injured are firefighters who were responding to the fire: two of them went to the hospital for smoke inhalation and burns to their hands and the other had a broken wrist.
Of the neighbors who were in the property, a man has been transferred due to smoke inhalation to the General Hospital, two people from the sixth floor have been transferred due to smoke inhalation by ambulance to the Doctor Peset hospital and a minor has gone to the 9 de Octubre hospital by its means.
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Latest news on the fire in Valencia, live
The flames have covered the entire façade and have caused some parts of the building to be thrown several meters away.
The fire started on one of the ground floors, but quickly spread to the rest of the block.
The police have cut off access to avoid accidents and facilitate the arrival of emergency vehicles.
Emergencies, which received the notice after 5:30 p.m., have also asked, through social networks, not to approach the scene of the fire and surrounding areas "as it may be dangerous and to facilitate the work of the teams."
Two people wait on the balcony to be rescued in the fire.Manuel Bruque (EFE)
Two people wait on the balcony to be rescued from the fire by firefighters. Mònica Torres
Two people trapped in the fire give the ok signal to the firefighters. Mònica Torres
A team of firefighters work on the fire. Mònica Torres
The president of the Generalidad Valenciana, Carlos Mazón (in the center), and the mayor of the city, María José Catalá (on the right), in the vicinity of the fire.
Manuel Bruque (EFE)
Ambulances and police officers in front of the burning building. Mònica Torres
Neighbors watch the apartment block burn in Valencia. Alberto Saiz (AP/ LaPresse)
A firefighter tries to put out the burning building, in the Campanar neighborhood of Valencia, this Thursday.Eduardo Manzana (Europa Press)
Flames devour the building in the Campanar neighborhood. Alberto Saiz (AP)
A column of smoke rises from the burning building.
Manuel Bruque (EFE)
Flames devour two buildings in the Campanar neighborhood.Eduardo Manzana - Europa Press (Europa Press)
Firefighters spray the apartment block as it burns.Alberto Saiz (AP/ LaPresse)
General view of the burned building. Alberto Saiz (AP/ LaPresse)
Firefighters work on the fire declared in the Campanar neighborhood.
Manuel Bruque (EFE)
General view of the fire declared around half past five this afternoon.Manuel Bruque (EFE)
Back of the burning building in the Campanar neighborhood.Eduardo Manzana (Europa Press)
The flames devour the 14-story building in the Campanar neighborhood, in Valencia, between Maestro Rodrigo and Poeta Rafel Alberti streets. Mònica Torres
View of the fire in a building in the Campanar neighborhood, in Valencia.112 Valencia
David Higuera, technical engineer and expert in building installations, points out that, according to all indications, the material used in the façade has been the cause of the rapid spread of the fire.
These are aluminum plates with a synthetic insulator that is “very combustible.”
“They have very good thermal behavior against heat and cold, but these synthetic foams are very combustible,” he says.
Fire warning on the fourth floor of a building, Campanar area of Valencia.
It extends to more floors.
➡️Mobilized 10 @bomberosvlc crews and 2 SAMU + SVB.
pic.twitter.com/XD4SMt2ZH5
— Emergències 112CV (@GVA112) February 22, 2024
Carlos and Dani, two 16-year-old boys, who were in a park next to the building when the fire started, observed “stunned” how the fire spread “upwards” in a few minutes.
“It went along the aluminum plates of the façade or behind them, always upwards,” says Carlos.
Both claim that they have seen neighbors on their balconies making gestures for help and “screaming.”
And they show a video that they have recorded from the park.
Another neighbor points out that the fire started in the curtains of a house, according to the doorman.
Building in the El Campanar neighborhood before the flames, in Valencia
Ana María González, a witness who works at a clinic near the fire, said that firefighters rescued a teenage boy who was on the first floor, while other troops were helping a person trapped on the same floor.
The emergency services have tried to put an inflatable mattress, but it has been in vain because the objects that fell on fire have made it impossible to use the tool.
This witness explained how she saw “burning plates” fall to the ground, which the firefighters were trying to put out.
The 112 has mobilized ten municipal fire crews, two SAMU and one SVB to the site of the fire, which apparently originated on the fourth floor of the building and has spread to the rest of the building, as reported by Emergencies in its account. X (formerly Twitter).
In addition, a support and coordination unit, a multiple casualty vehicle and a field hospital have been mobilized, as well as three SAMU, another two Basic Life Support and a conventional ambulance.
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