According to Valencia's emergency services, the fire broke out in an apartment on the fourth floor and spread quickly.
At least 13 people, including six firefighters, were injured in a massive fire at an apartment building in the Spanish coastal metropolis of Valencia.
The rescue service announced this on X on Thursday evening. Miraculously, according to this information, there were no fatalities.
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The building, which was only a few years old and had 138 apartments on 15 floors, was completely consumed by flames in a very short time and at times looked like a huge torch. The fire broke out in an apartment on one of the lower floors and spread quickly across the facade due to the strong winds.
Two people who called for help from a balcony managed to be rescued at the last moment by firefighters using a revolving ladder with a rescue basket, as can be seen in television images. It was already burning brightly around them. A resident of the house told television station RTVE that, apart from the two people rescued, all other residents apparently managed to leave the building in time.
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Black cloud of smoke
According to this information, authorities built a field hospital near the massive fire as a precautionary measure. In addition, help was requested from soldiers from the UME military emergency relief unit to fight the flames, state TV broadcaster RTVE reported. UME is also used in large wildfires.
Social media showed how the facade of the house, completed in 2005, shone 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 rigid flame-retardant polyurethane foam underneath.
It was initially unclear why the fire spread so quickly across the facade. On television it was possible to see how burning parts of the facade flew into the air and continued to burn on the ground around the building.
According to the rescue service, 16 fire engines were mobilized to fight the fire. There was a huge cloud of black smoke above the building.