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Valencia tower block fire death toll rises to nine
Victims of the horrendous fire in Spain include a family with a newborn baby
The final death toll from the terrible blaze that burned down an apartment building in Valencia this Thursday, February 22, is nine.After the fire was fully extinguished and fire crews were able to search the premises, the original death toll was raised from four to 10 after several more bodies were recovered.
However, that was lowered once again to nine, with the person who was thought to have died now being considered missing. All others are accounted for.
Four of the victims were members of the same family, including a father and mother, a three-year-old boy and a newborn baby girl.
At least 15 people were injured, including seven firefighters. Of those, nine were still in hospital this Friday, but are all reportedly in a stable condition.
The fire started on a seventh-floor balcony of the 14-storey apartment building. Part of the reason why it spread to the rest of the flats so quickly is apparently because it was covered it the same polyurethane aluminum cladding that was in the Grenfell Tower and which is extremely flammable.
After the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, EU regulations on cladding materials were changed and that type of polyurethane is no longer widely used in buildings unless there are additional safety measures to offset its flammability.
Almost 100 soldiers from Spain’s military emergency unit and 40 firefighting vehicles were deployed to the scene of the fire and used drones to search the building for bodies and survivors.
President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, visited the site today and said, “I want to thank the public servants for their outstanding work, even risking their lives. We are here to help you, to show our commitment and the solidarity of Spanish society as a whole.”
As part of that effort, 131 temporary homes are already being prepared for those residents of the building whose homes burnt down. They will also receive money for daily costs and rent.
Image: Emergències 112CV
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