At least 13 people, including six firefighters, were injured in a major fire in a high-rise apartment building in the Spanish coastal metropolis of Valencia. This was announced by the emergency services on X. Miraculously, according to this information, there were no fatalities.
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 due to strong winds.
Two people who called for help from a balcony were able to be brought to safety at the last moment by the fire department using a turntable ladder with a rescue basket, as could be seen in television images. It was already burning brightly around them. A resident of the house said on the RTVE television station that apart from the two rescued people, all other residents were apparently able to leave the building in time.
According to this information, the authorities have built a field hospital near the major fire as a precautionary measure. 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.
Social media showed how the facade of the house, which was completed in 2005, burned brightly from the ground floor to the flat roof. An expert said on television that the facade consisted of aluminum panels with a layer of flame-retardant rigid polyurethane foam underneath.
It was initially unclear why the fire was able to spread so quickly across the facade. On television you could see how burning parts of the facade sailed through the air and continued to burn on the ground around the building.
According to the rescue service, 16 fire engines were deployed to fight the fire. There was a huge cloud of black smoke above the building.
