Manuel Fandos breathed a sigh of relief when throughout the early hours of the morning he was able to confirm the location of four neighbors with whom he had not been able to contact since the tragedy began. However, he did not leave his seat on a very complicated night for him and his family. The king size bed of the hotel where they stayed was not even touched. “I don’t have anything. The clothes I’m wearing,” he told reporters. Manuel also explains the heroic performance of the building’s janitor, Julián “who did not stop knocking door to door. I’m sure many people have come out thanks to him.”
The manager of the Valencia Palace Hotel explains that there are 39 people staying in their rooms. “They arrived at dawn with everything they were wearing and had something to eat,” he says, adding, “a girl pointed to her clothes and said ‘this is my life.’”
This is the situation experienced by Laura and Manu, 28 years old, who acquired their first home in this real estate development. “I don’t know what to do,” she repeated this morning over and over again, “it’s like a nightmare; “I see the images and it doesn’t look like our house.” Her partner points out that they will have to make a list of priorities “clothes, charger, documentation”, “you don’t know what you have until you lose it,” Laura points out.
Neither of them have been able to sleep – “we were silent but unable to sleep” – and they still have not been able to contact some of their neighbors. She had to run away. She was in the shower and when she came out she noticed a strange smell and began to see smoke. They admit to being “misplaced” despite the relief of knowing that they are alive.
José Luis and his wife Ángela are also in the hotel. He worked at Samu and was quickly able to verify that what happened was serious. He quickly left the building – even though the weather made it difficult for him to go down the stairs – and tried to locate a very elderly neighbor but she did not answer his emergency call. They didn’t have time for more. José Luis had to be treated by medical services for smoke inhalation.
Once outside the building and safe, he warned the health workers of the need to bring more equipment as soon as possible given the severity of the fire. Now he also wonders what will become of him and his wife since they have no family and he barely receives a pension. “What do I do, do I buy a Quechua and live under the river?”, he commented to journalists. He still admits that it could have been worse: “There are many older people in the building and if it had been at night… it burned faster than a failure.”
Tomas Radavicius, Lithuanian, is 24 years old and stayed tonight at his father’s apartment. He was not in his house, at door 50 on the fifth floor, when the fire occurred, but his partner was, and they were able to leave him without problems. He has been living in Spain for five years.
Elisa, a Ukrainian, claims that her dog has died because of the fire, she complains – in English – that she has lost everything here after having lost it in Ukraine. His colleague says that the firefighters did not know what to do, that they did not help the people: The city knew that the building was made with very flammable materials, that there was no good system against fire, only a small fire extinguisher next to the elevator; “It was impossible to survive in that building.” They are outraged and believe that people “should sue the city,” says Elisa, “I know that Ukraine is not the most developed place in the world, but this is criminal negligence, after Grenfell in London, they knew it was dangerous.
Yuri and his wife have also lost everything. He is Russian and works in Valencia in a company, he was outside the building. She was at home with her son and was able to leave, but they only kept her passports. They lived on the 8th floor. The authorities have taken their details and have promised them help. He apologizes for not speaking much Spanish, and explains that his son is studying high school. They have lost everything, his wife thought it would be a small fire, but in a few minutes it was impossible to return to the apartment.
