Yesterday’s working day had not ended on Monday when Alicante City Council announced that its fire brigade had already inspected 90 of the 135 buildings with more than ten floors in the municipality. It was about going through a catalog of properties that firefighting professionals know well; in 2021 they conscientiously reviewed their fire protection systems and the features to take into account in case it was necessary to intervene.
But in this case they were looking for something very specific: if among those 135 properties, any of them have a facade covered with the construction system and the sandwich panel-type materials that the devastating fire in the Valencian neighborhood of Campanar has sadly destroyed. We will have to wait until, probably today, they finish the route to know if there are any.
As is logical, the Valencia City Council is also willing to carry out this analysis in its housing stock, although both the mayor of the city, María José Catalá, and the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón , stated that it is a priority to conclude the analysis of the damaged building to confirm what were the fatal causes that led to the unusual evolution of the fire.
The enormous impact that the tragedy has caused throughout the country affects a general demand of public opinion to which the authorities are beginning to respond: to know if what has happened can happen again to their neighbors.
Governments such as the Catalan and Madrid governments have instructed their respective technicians to review the housing stock in their territories in search of properties built with materials and techniques similar to those used in the cladding that firefighters and scientific police they study in Valencia in search of data to explain what happened. Yesterday the Minister of Territorial Affairs, Ester Capella, announced that the working group will meet for the first time on Friday to assess whether there are buildings in Catalonia with the same characteristics as the victim. “The group will analyze what type of materials are used and their resistance to water, fire or the elements that can cause a building to burn or collapse,” explained Capella.
The president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, asked the Ministry of Housing to revise the technical building code approved in 2006, to which the said government department responded by adding that in 2019 this document was updated following the London’s Grenfell Tower tragedy, where 72 people died in a fire similar to the one in Valencia.
The Secretary of State for Industry, Rebeca Torró, asked to wait for the studies on the Campanar disaster “to say where the materials should be used and where not”, although she promised “collaboration maximum between administrations”.
Political groups in the city councils of cities such as Barcelona and Madrid have demanded that the census of buildings be reviewed to assess possible risks. In Zaragoza, the Consistory has started an “in-depth” analysis and diagnosis process to identify buildings with cladding made of flammable materials, in search of zero risk.
