“Fire” “Fire” A scream accompanied by a loud banging of doors was heard on the

evening of February 22, 2024, in the outskirts of Valencia City, Spain. The banging
and screaming belonged to a doorman of a two-building residential complex in the
Campanar neighborhood of Valencia. This gentleman's action that day was a reason
for so many lives to be saved from a fire that is said to be the first of its kind in Spain
according to Esther Puchades, the vice president of the Valencia College of
Industrial and Technical Engineers who had also inspected the building. The fire
broke out on the 7th floor but started to spread at a quick pace and caused the
destruction of 138 apartments in the two buildings. Firefighters, ambulances, and
law enforcement arrived at the scene soon after. Still, it only took about 10 minutes
to engulf the entire first building and spread to the second building according to an
eyewitness. Numerous people captured the early stages of the blaze on their
smartphones, showing how it quickly intensified and began spreading. The
magnitude of the disaster was so great that a military emergency unit was asked to
assist. About forty fire engines and ninety soldiers were deployed and a field
hospital was also set up in the area. On the morning of 23 February, a fire brigade
was sent to search for missing people inside the apartment complex and was
unable to do the job due to the extreme heat in the building. This disastrous fire
claimed the lives of ten people and caused injuries to 15 people. The cause of the
fire is believed to be accidental and due to a faulty house appliance that started in
the kitchen of one of the apartments, however, it is still under investigation as to
why the fire spread so quickly and engulfed both buildings within 30 minutes. It is
suspected that a thermoplastic material, possibly a resin that is used to adhere the
aluminum cladding is the culprit for the rapidness of the fire. A strong wind,
approximately measured at about 60 km/hr and even a gust of 100 km/hrs was also
one of the reasons for the worsening of the fire at that fast rate. This tragedy has
prompted comparisons with London's 2017 Grenfell Tower Inferno where the lives
of 72 people were lost in the destruction of the 23-storey apartment complex
where the fire was exacerbated due to the easily combustible cladding system used
in the building material. These repetitive accidents should raise concern and cause
the government to control what building materials are being used and the safety
threat they cause to residents. In the aftermath, the Valencia community and
Spanish officials have rallied to support the affected. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez
and Science Minister Diana Morant have pledged aid and solidarity to the victims’
families and those displaced. The Valencia regional government, led by Carlos
Mazón, is coordinating efforts to provide housing and necessities to the 450
residents impacted by the devastation of 138 flats. Additionally, Valencians are
contributing food, clothing, and toiletries to aid the displaced survivors.