The administrator of the building that burned in Valencia on Thursday night is called Adriana Bana, and she admitted in statements to the local press that her house was also among those that burned. Visibly shocked, she said it was a situation that “can’t be digested” and wondered how the massive building, consisting of two towers, could burn down in less than an hour, News.ro reported.

A powerful fire engulfed a 14-story building in the Campanar neighborhood of Valencia on Thursday. According to preliminary data so far, ten people have died and up to 15 are considered missing. The fire, which spread extremely quickly due to strong winds, left several people stuck on balconies trying to escape the blaze, which reportedly broke out on the seventh floor and engulfed the entire building in about half an hour.

“It’s a bleak landscape, an image that’s hard to digest,” she admitted.

Adriana explained that thanks to Julian, the superintendent of the building, who went door-to-door telling neighbors to get out, her family was able to do the same: “Fortunately, we have nothing to complain about, but it’s unfortunate that people died and that there will be some, about which we don’t know,” said the woman.

“Neighbors who heard about the fire immediately went outside. Families with children, because they were just returning from school. My daughters and I are fine, they stayed with a colleague, and we went somewhere, but we couldn’t sleep. It’s a terrible situation,” admitted Adriana, struggling to hold back tears.

Adriana Banu is the manager of the company that manages the building where the fire happened. She received a phone call from the supervisor and a neighbor from a nearby house, who informed her that a fire had broken out and that the fire department had already been notified. Adriana says that “there was a strong wind and the fire spread very quickly.”

What material would the facade be made of?

Adriana stated that the architectural firm that designed the building never provided them with plans for the building, even though they even offered to pay to get them.

When asked by COPE Valencia what type of material the facade was made of, she refuted the popular hypothesis that it would have been polyurethane and explained that it was a material called “alucobond”, which is apparently an aluminum composite that is particularly valued for its attractive weight/volume ratio. According to the technical specifications, these panels are attached directly to the aluminum frame with rivets and screws or with a system that provides quick installation. These panels are said to be fire resistant, lightweight and easy to assemble, providing excellent stiffness and flatness. They are characterized by their resistance to weather conditions, providing exceptional durability for outdoor use.

But, according to Adriana, this aluminum composite “had mineral wool behind the facade to insulate the building.” Mineral wool is a material used as a heat insulator in construction and industry. It is a type of mineral wool made from natural rocks such as basalt.

Adriana says that there was no gas in the complex, and all the energy was electricity. However, it is possible that the fire was helped by cotton wool on the facade, because the walls are made of plasterboard, and there is also cotton wool in the middle.

Regarding the house plans, she clarified that the company she represents did not run the house from the beginning and the plans were never given to her for organizational purposes. “We overcame this problem because those who adapted the ground floor for an electric car shop had to install air conditioning equipment on the roof and to raise the equipment, they had to make plans for administrative permits. This is what saved us in these circumstances. I gave the police and homicide department a list of the owners and the property register so they could see what the building was made of,” she told local media.

However, Adriana also wonders what could have contributed to the spread of the fire and believes that it must have been one of the materials used in the construction of the building.