Desperate residents climb down balconies as flames engulf multistorey building in Spanish port city

By Elena Salvoni

18:51 22 Feb 2024, updated 20:30 22 Feb 2024

• Blaze is thought to have broken out at around 5.30pm before spreading rapidly 

A huge fire has ripped through two residential buildings in the Spanish city of Valencia, with terrifying footage showing desperate residents trying to escape the flames on their balconies as the building is engulfed. 

At least 13 people have been injured and there are fears that residents are still trapped inside as the fire continues to rage. 

Witnesses have said that firefighters managed to rescue several people, including a father and daughter, teenage boy and a couple, from their balconies.

The fire is believed to have broken out in a 14-storey block of flats at around 5.30pm and went on to ravage the residential block, which is in the Campanar area of the eastern port city. 

It started on the fourth floor and spread rapidly, emergency services and horrified witnesses said, with dramatic pictures showing flames and towering clouds of black smoke engulfing the building.

The apartment block has been ‘reduced to a skeleton’, according to local media, while a nearby building has also been consumed by the flames.

More than 20 fire crews have been involved in tackling the blaze, with their efforts being hampered by the wind and soaring temperatures of the fire.

Local media reports that a field hospital has been set up within the perimeter in case possible victims need treatment.

Dozens of residents were pictured watching on in horror tonight as their homes were destroyed in front of their eyes.

A resident who lives on the second floor of the building told TV channel La Sexta that ‘the fire spread in a matter of 10 minutes’ after it broke out.

He speculated that material on the facade of the building may have enabled the flames to move through the building so quickly.

Engineer Esther Puchades, who surveyed that same building said that it was ‘covered in polyurethane, a highly flammable material,’ RTVE reports.

David Higuera, another engineer, told Spanish newspaper El País also said that the building’s cladding may have been the cause of the rapid spread of the fire. 

The foam insulator covering the building is ‘very good at insulating against heat and cold, but very combustible,’ he said.

Thirteen people have been confirmed injured so far, including a firefighter with a broken wrist and residents suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. 

Spain’s TVE public television said there were more than 130 flats in the building. 

Television images showed the entire facade of the building ablaze as burning segments fell to the pavement below and small explosions were heard inside. 

Local media reported several residents calling for help from the balconies of their apartments. 

Ana Mari Gonzalez, who works in a nearby clinic, told TVE she could see firefighters working to rescue a teenage boy trapped on the building’s first floor. 

‘Please stay away from the area of the fire to let the emergency services do their work,’ Valencia’s mayor Maria Jose Catala wrote on X.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was ‘shocked by the terrible fire’ and was in contact with the mayor and the region’s leader ‘to offer whatever help they needed’ and extending his condolences to everyone affected by the blaze.

The building is in the relatively new neighbourhood of Campanar, located in the western part of the city.