A chilling comparison has been made between the Valencia blaze, which it is feared has killed 24 people, and the Grenfell Tower disaster as the Spanish building’s cladding has also been blamed.
The apartment block, in the Campanar area of the port city, was covered with highly-flammable polyurethane cladding, which experts have said is the reason for the building’s rapid destruction.
Heroic firefighters hauled survivors off burning balconies as they battled the blaze while some residents were forced to jump off the 14-storey building.
In June 2017, a fire ripped through Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey high-rise in west London, killing 72 people, with the blaze spreading rapidly due to the highly combustible cladding on the block’s outside walls. A public inquiry into the disaster is still ongoing.
The material is legal but no longer widely used after it was linked to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, with an inquiry into the disaster being told that polyurethane and other combustible materials had been used in the building.
the blaze started at 5pm yesterday afternoon in Valencia
A chilling comparison has been made to the 2017 Grenfell disaster which killed 72 people
The apartment block, in the Campanar area of the port city, before the blaze
The 24-storey Grenfell Tower before a blaze killed 72 in the block of flats
A diagram of the cladding used in the Grenfell tower. The farmable component is called polyurethane which was also in the Valencia apartment block
Spanish rescue services members take care of a person affected by a fire in a 14-story residential building in Valencia
If cladding is to blame in this case, it could be the first fire of its kind in Spain, according to an engineer who previously surveyed the building.
Construction began on the building in 2005 and it was completed around 2009, with the building company boasting at the time that it was built with ‘the highest quality materials’.
More than 20 fire crews were involved in tackling last night’s blaze, with their efforts being hampered by the wind and soaring temperatures of the fire.
Witnesses said that firefighters managed to rescue several people, including a father and daughter, teenage boy and a couple, from their balconies.
Speaking to EFE, Esther Puchades, who is deputy head of Valencia’s Industrial Engineers Association (COGITI), blamed the building’s cladding for the fire’s ferocity and said that the tragedy may mark ‘a turning point’ in Spain.
Speaking to Valencian TV on Thursday, Puchades explained that when construction began on the now destroyed building, ‘the bad reputation of polyurethane was not so widespread’ as it is now, in the wake of Grenfell and other disasters around the world.
‘Today it is not used, at least not in that way,’ she added, referring to increased safety measures around its usage in Spain.
Engineer David Higuera also told Spanish newspaper El País that the building’s cladding may have been the cause of the rapid spread of the fire.
The material is ‘very good at insulating against heat and cold, but very combustible,’ he said.
At least four people were confirmed killed last night and a further 19 were missing, feared dead, despite the heroic efforts of firefighters who braved the raging fire to haul trapped residents from their balconies.
The apartment block in Valencia caught fire at around 5.30pm on Thursday, trapping some of the more than 400 residents in the complex in their homes before it continued to rage on into the early hours of Friday morning.
Dramatic footage shows a man jumping several floors onto an inflatable mat to escape the raging fire, while other homeowners were seen awaiting rescue on their terraces as the flames closed in around them.
One couple, seen in footage being hauled to safety by firefighters, were later pictured being taken for treatment by emergency workers, seemingly not too badly hurt.
Witnesses described how the fire engulfed the entire block ‘like cork’, with the flames spreading ‘in a matter of minutes’ and moving through the main tower and then into an adjoining building,
Spain’s TVE public television said there were more than 130 flats in the building which was rapidly ‘reduced to a skeleton’.
As the sun rose on Friday, firefighters were preparing to enter the building to begin the grim task of going door-to-door in the search for bodies. Crews were still tackling the blaze, but said it was ‘controlled’.
Firefighters admitted last night that they do not expect any of the missing to have survived the blaze – the cause of which is currently unclear.
The official death toll is not expected to rise until later today when fire crews and other emergency responders are able to access the inside of the apartment block.
A general view of the facade during the building fire on February 22, 2024
Flaming debris has come crashing down around firefighters as they have been working to extinguish the inferno
Dramatic footage shows a man jumping several floors onto an inflatable mat to escape the raging fire, while other homeowners were seen awaiting rescue on their terraces as the flames closed in around them
The apartment buildings were entirely gutted by the huge inferno, which broke out on Thursday evening
The multistorey building was left completely gutted, with crowds seen gathering to watch the destruction unfold
Residents were trapped on their balconies – just metres from the flames – as they waited for firefighters to rescue them from the inferno
Jorge Suarez, sub-director of emergencies for the regional Valencian government, said last night that 14 people including at least six firefighters had been injured in the blaze.
Confirming fears there would be fatalities, he said: ‘We have to confirm the worst of the hypotheses that were on the table. Four people have died. We can now confirm that but we can’t give out any more information at the moment.
‘Firefighters are still working exclusively outside the building on tasks related to extinguishing the blaze.
‘The characteristics of the building make it impossible to carry out any such work inside the structure so the work being done at the moment is focused on cooling down the outside and that’s going to be the focus over the next few hours.
‘I can’t say at the moment when they’re going to be able to go inside the building.’
Confirming earlier reports firefighters had sighted four bodies after they put up a drone, he added: ‘The information on the four fatalities is based on visual information we have.’ Two of the bodies were seen on a terrace, and the others on a floor.
Authorities confirmed that 14 people had been injured, among them nine men aged between 25 and 57, four women aged between 27 and 81, and a seven-year-old boy.
Twelve of them are understood to remain in hospital, as of midnight last night.
More details began to emerge this morning of the miracle rescue of a couple trapped on the seventh-floor in images that went around the world.
Building manager and resident Adriana holds back tears as she watches the block go up in flames
The cause of the fire is unknown and it is not known if there are any victims
The apartment block in Valencia caught fire at around 5.30pm on Thursday. The fire continued to rage on into the early hours of Friday morning
Residents were pictured watching on in horror tonight as their homes were destroyed in front of their eyes
The fire raged late into Thursday night and left the building as little more than a shell
Firefighters worked through the night to put out the huge inferno, which left the building completely gutted
The tower block before the fire. Construction began on the building in 2005 and it was completed around 2009
The man and woman were trapped on their seventh-floor balcony for almost two hours before being plucked to safety by firefighters in cherry pickers.
They covered their faces with scarves and woolly hats to protect themselves from the flames, smoke and intense heat.
At one point they were even filmed trying to jump over a partition wall separating their balcony from their neighbour’s terrace before being dissuaded by the fire crews trying to reach them who focused on dousing the outside of their flat with water to try to keep the flames away and make reaching them possible.
The couple were heard shouting for help as their rescuers tried to calm them down and darkness descended on the area.
They were plucked to safety around 8pm, with onlookers fearing a fatal outcome cheering as they were brought to the ground.
They received emergency medical attention following their rescue but are not thought to have needed hospital treatment.
Their whereabouts this morning was unknown. Other survivors are being put up in hotels or staying with family and friends.
Valencia City Hall has declared three days of mourning.
The blaze, Valencia’s worst-ever fire, is thought to have started on an eighth-floor.
The site of the tower block fire in the Campanar area of Valencia on Avenida Maestro Rodrigo, at the junction with General Aviles
In June 2017, a fire ripped through Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey high-rise in west London, killing 72 people
Devastated residents evacuated from the burning apartment building watch on helplessly as the fire continued to rage on
Firefighters attempt to rescue two stranded residents who fled to the balcony as the building was engulfed
The probe into the cause will begin once firefighters and police can enter the building but is already being linked to a possible electrical fault.
Residents who managed to make it out alive said last night the fire had spread through the entire two residential towers affected in the 30 minutes after the first flames were detected.
A woman called Maite, who lives opposite the apartment block, told local press: ‘I saw people being burnt and shouting for help from balconies, a couple and a child. I’m feeling devastated.
‘I left my home and went down into the street in case the flames jumped to our building. I just grabbed hold of my handbag, nothing else.’