Firefighters work at a burned block building in Valencia, Spain, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. A fire has engulfed two residential buildings in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia, killing at least four people and injuring at least 13 others. Emergency services reported that at least 19 people were still missing several hours after the fire started. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
Firefighters work at a burned block building in Valencia, Spain, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. A fire has engulfed two residential buildings in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia, killing at least four people and injuring at least 13 others. Emergency services reported that at least 19 people were still missing several hours after the fire started. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
Spanish officials on Friday raised the death toll to 10 in the apartment block fire in the eastern city of Valencia.
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.
Meanwhile, questions abounded as to how the fire spread so rapidly.
Experts suggested 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 the construction of the modern complex might have contributed.
Alejandra Alarcón said that it took 15 minutes for the fire to engulf the entire building.
She added that she heard children screaming and explosions.
Experts said the building’s cladding may have been to blame for the fire’s ferocity.
Firefighters work at a burned block building in Valencia, Spain, on Friday. Photo / AP
The vice-president of the Valencia College of Industrial and Technical Engineers, Esther Puchades, who once inspected the building, told the state news agency Efe the cladding used included polyurethane and when “heated it is like plastic and it ignites”.
She said it was the first fire of its type in Spain, but that other blazes involving the material have been similarly destructive in the United Kingdom and China.
IPUR, Spain’s polyurethane manufacturers’ association, issued a statement contesting Puchades’ claim, saying there was no evidence polyurethane was used in the Valencia building’s facade.
The June 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London, which had similar cladding, caused 72 deaths.
In the Grenfell Tower, the exterior walls of the 25-storey public housing complex were covered by a layer of foam insulation topped by what are called aluminium composite material (ACM) rainscreen panels. These are essentially two sheets of aluminium sandwiched around a layer of polyethylene, a combustible plastic polymer that melts and drips on exposure to heat.
After a faulty refrigerator started the fire in a fourth-floor apartment, the flames quickly spread to the exterior cladding and began climbing up the outside of the building. The fire reached the roof within minutes, then spread to engulf much of the structure, trapping residents in their apartments.
A public inquiry into the fire found the flames spread rapidly owing to the presence of aluminium composite material and polyethylene, a substance similar to polyurethane.
The complex in Valencia was finished in 2009. In a promotional video, the now-bankrupt construction company Fbex boasted that it used a new aluminium-based material as part of its facade.
Fifteen people were treated for injuries and two remained in city hospitals. Both were said to be stable.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the scene, promising support for those affected and expressing gratitude to firefighters and military personnel who worked to extinguish the blaze.
Pope Francis also sent a telegram of condolences.
A housing block burns in Valencia, Spain. Fifteen people were treated for injuries and the cause of the fire is unknown. Photo / AP
It was not immediately known how many people were in the two buildings when the fire broke out, but dozens are believed to have lost their homes and belongings. The complex had some 140 apartments.
The Valencia regional government declared three days of mourning and announced financial aid to cover accommodation, clothing and food.
Weekend soccer games involving Valencia and Levante have been postponed after both clubs requested not to play in the immediate aftermath of the fire, the Spanish league said.
Residents were housed overnight in hotels or in the homes of relatives and neighbours, authorities said. Neighbours also responded by donating clothes and food in shops for the survivors.
Firefighters rushed to the scene on the outskirts of the city as flames burst from windows. They used a crane to lift two residents from one of the balconies.
Some 90 soldiers from Spain’s Military Emergency Unit and 40 firefighting trucks also were deployed.
The fire sent clouds of black smoke billowing skyward that could be seen from kilometres away. Spain’s weather agency Aemet reported winds of up to 60km/h at the time.
