four dead in building fire in Valencia, at least 14 people missing

The fire, which broke out Thursday afternoon on the fourth floor of the building, also injured 14 people.

The fire spread with spectacular speed. At least four people died on Thursday February 22 in a fire in a fourteen-story residential building in Valencia, Spain, according to an emergency services official. In addition, 14 people “have not been located”declared the prefect of the region on Friday, warning that this “figure could vary”.

In the evening, 14 people were treated for injuries of varying degrees, according to the emergency services, including a seven-year-old child, and 12 of them were transferred to hospitals in Spain’s third city. Six are firefighters, “which highlights the intensity of the work they are doing”according to the deputy director of emergencies of the Valencia region, Jorge Suarez Torres.

Firefighters still on the job

“The characteristics of the building do not currently allow us to turn off [l’incendie] in the interior part” of the building, he added during the night. “We are working to cool the building at the facade level, this is the objective for the next few hours and we cannot indicate at the moment when we will be able to enter inside the structure”he clarified.

The fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of this building built around fifteen years ago with 138 apartments, before spreading at high speed to the other floors through the facade. Esther Puchades, number two of the regional association of industrial engineers, questioned the presence on the facade of a polyurethane coating, which is very flammable.