The tragic fire which broke out on the night of this Friday in a residence in Villafranca de Ebro cost the lives of ten residents. Additionally, two residents were injured and were transferred to the Royo Villanova Hospital in Zaragoza. Specifically, A 65-year-old man is admitted to intensive care in critical condition. and another, aged 72, is already in the factory. To this, it must be added that a civil guard required medical attention for smoke inhalation with a mild prognosis.
The fire broke out around 5 a.m. As we learned throughout the morning of this Friday, the origin of the fire was clarified in un / A resident’s room who might be found smoking insideas detailed by Paquita Morata, head of the Aragonese Association for Dependency. The main hypothesis considered is that the fire could have been caused by a resident who was smoking with an oxygen pump.
Numerous fire teams from Zaragoza City Hall attended the scene. Zaragoza fire chief Eduardo Sánchez said that when they arrived they found that the evacuation of residents was already underway. “We finished it and we took it upon ourselves to put out the fire“, he stressed.
Two heavy supply pumps, two light urban pumps, a 30-meter automatic ladder from the Zaragoza Fire Department and an ambulance attended the scene. As reported by the fire chief, the cause of death of the ten residents was due to smoke inhalation.
In addition, various authorities such as the government delegate in Aragon, Fernando Beltrán, traveled early in the morning; the president of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón; the vice president, Mar Vaquero; the Minister of the Interior, Roberto Bermúdez de Castro; the Minister of Social Protection and Family, Carmen Susín; and the director of the Aragonese Institute of Social Services (IASS), Ángel Val.
The fire left residents, many of whom had mobility issues, bedridden, leading troops to find people on the ground. The single-story building is divided into two wings. As the fire chief confirmed, The existence of a fire door prevented the tragedy from becoming even greater and secured the other half of the building.
When the fire broke out, 69 residents were inside. Thanks to the ventilation carried out by the firefighters, the residents were able to settle back into the living room while waiting to be moved. 061 had to take care of 32 of them.
Workers, keys in the evacuation
The mayor, Volga Ramírez, was one of the first to show up at the Jardines de Villafranca residence with her husband. When they arrived, they were able to see that a patrol from the Alfajarín Civil Guard was already working on site. “My husband came in first and encountered a lot of smoke“, detailed the councilor at the doors of the residence.
Both the mayor and Jorge Azcón have always highlighted the “extraordinary” work carried out by the two workers who were inside the center when the fire spread: “They prevented the tragedy from getting worse,” detailed the President of Aragon.. Both sounded the alarm: “They played their physical integration to save people and not everyone does that“, expressed the mayor of the town.
Transfer to Huesca
The transfer of residents has been one of the priorities of the Government of Aragon from the beginning. Thanks to adapted vehicles, they were transferred to the Vitalia residence in Huesca a few hours after the fire started.
This same center was already a reference point a few weeks ago when the elderly were displaced from the Cuarte de Huerva residence due to the flooding of the Huerva river by DANA.
The government delegate in Aragon, Fernando Beltrán, described the transfer as “complicated” because the residents of this center had diverse needs and there were not only elderly people, but also people with mental health problems.
Logroño Special Unit
A specialized unit of the Civil Guard for damage to infrastructure and the damage caused from Logroño with a team from Zaragoza are those who took charge of investigating the incident. For now, despite the hypotheses put forward, the investigation continues. Through unity A technical report of probable causes will be preparedwhich could conclude on the “exact reason” why the fire occurred.
