Firefighters battled a large fire that broke out in a 14-story apartment building in the Campanar neighborhood of Valencia and then spread to a second building on Thursday night. Official sources say it is impossible to make estimates while the fire is still raging. The State Emergency Service deployed a field hospital near the fire and appealed for help to the military unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations

Valencia blocks firePhoto: Eduardo Manzana / Zuma Press / Profimedia

01:20At least 4 dead, reports AFP.

23:18The number of victims has increased to 14, reports El Pais.

The emergency medical service said it treated 14 people affected by a fire in the Campanar district of Valencia.

Nine of them are men aged 25 to 57; 4 women aged 27 to 81; and a minor under the age of 7.

Apart from two women who received first aid on the spot, the rest of the victims were taken to different hospitals.

22:20 Technical engineer and expert on construction installations David Gigera notes that, according to the first signs, the reason for the rapid spread of the fire was the material used to insulate the facade, reports El Pais.

PHOTO by Eduardo Manzana / Zuma Press / Profimedia

22:18El Pais writes that the authorities confirm that there are 13 victims. Six of them are firefighters who responded to the fire, two of whom went to the hospital for smoke inhalation, hand burns, and one of them suffered a broken wrist.

10:06 in the eveningValencia Plaza reports 13 injured. The authorities announced that they had set up a field hospital on the boulevard in the Campanar district.

The residential building has fourteen floors and 138 apartments, the source said. The flames spread to the neighboring residential building, both new buildings.

The fire started on the fourth floor of the building and spread to other apartments, the State Emergency Service reported on X.

Several people were injured in the incident, with local media reporting that people may still be trapped inside and several residents calling for help from their apartment balconies.

El País newspaper reported that seven people were treated for injuries caused by the fire, including two firefighters, according to the BBC.

Local reports said firefighters rescued several residents, including a couple who lived on the seventh floor.

A man whose apartment was on the second floor of the building told La Sexta TV station that the flames spread quickly after the fire broke out.

“The fire spread in just 10 minutes,” he said, adding that the material on the facade of the building could have caused the fire to spread.

Television footage showed the entire facade of the building on fire, with burning segments of the building falling onto the pavement, while small explosions could be heard from inside.

Sixteen fire engines and five ambulances were sent to the scene in an affluent area north of the city centre, local emergency services said.

The complex was built by Catalan developer Fbex between 2005 and 2008, at the height of the real estate boom, Valencia Plaza notes. In 2010, the company went bankrupt due to a debt of more than 600 million euros.