Two months after the fire that burned a two-tower building in the Campanar neighborhood of Valencia, causing ten deaths and hundreds of victims, there are still many unanswered questions. These are some issues pending resolution.
Why did the flames spread so quickly?
The firefighters themselves were amazed that in less than 30 minutes the two towers of the building were consumed by flames. Everything indicates that the structure and materials of the “skin” of the façade facilitated the rapid spread with the support of the strong wind from Levante that was blowing that day. The research is aimed precisely at determining that composition. For the investigation, the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 has been taken as a reference. Regarding the cause of the incident, it was confirmed that everything started with an appliance, a refrigerator, in the kitchen of apartment 86.
Suspicions about the reason for the magnitude of the event point to a cocktail of circumstances in which the flammable material used in the cladding, the exterior aluminum “skin” of the building (high-density polyethylene, possibly) on rock wool ( fireproof) and the chimney effect caused in the ventilation chamber on a day with a strong west wind. It would also remain to be clarified whether the segmentation of the building’s fire sectors was sufficient or whether new requirements would be necessary to increase them.
How was the façade of the Campanar building designed?
Some experts point out that the origin of the event was located in the very thin aluminum sheet (composite), which acts as the first skin of the building. Since this sheet is very thin, in order to have sufficient rigidity, the aluminum coating has a layer of high-intensity polyethylene attached to its inner core that gives it rigidity and can be completed with another layer of lower quality aluminum. From the outside in, these facades have in their external coating a layer of aluminum, the ventilation chamber and the thermal insulating elements (rock wool, polyurethane foam…).
Polyethylene is the material used to make plastic supermarket bags; although in this case it is a “high density and rigid element” material. In this building, the core of this composite was, apparently, high-density polyethylene. And high-density polyethylene burns at high temperature.
Are there more buildings with a façade structure similar to that of Campanar?
The Campanar building was delivered in 2005, and the legislation that imposed the standards was extended to other housing structures during the real estate boom. While waiting for the conclusions of the investigation to be known, the Valencian Department of Social Services, Equality and Housing maintains an active “committee of experts” with which a “mapping” of buildings that could have similar characteristics is being developed. The Department headed by Susana Camarero is also working on a possible modification of the standard that buildings must follow regarding fire safety.
It is unknown, therefore, how many buildings may have been built in the same way, which leads to a review of building technology in Spain, especially in projects dating from the real estate “boom” (1997-2007). In Spain, there are not many residential buildings with this type of aluminum composite facade. These finishes have been used above all in office buildings (mainly because the material used is quite expensive) or luxury estates, such as the one in Valencia.
What has happened to the neighbors affected by the fire?
A total of 92 families affected by the Campanar fire remain relocated in the building owned by the Valencia City Council that was offered to them as a temporary home after having lost theirs in the incident, as reported by the council. In total, there were 99 family units that moved to the municipal building to have accommodation. To date there have been seven who have left the Safranar property after having found another housing alternative. In total, after the Campanar fire, the Safranar building housed 229 people affected by that event in 99 of its 131 homes. Specifically, there were 187 adults and 42 minors.
The aid approved urgently by the Generalitat Valenciana has allowed some families to try to find an alternative to City Hall housing. At the end of May, the three months given to those affected to live in the Safranar building come to an end. Some will be able to extend the time they are there up to six months, but they have to find a life. Yesterday, on the SER channel, some neighbors like Ana María denounced that the apartments for rent in Campanar have skyrocketed in price “because their owners know that those affected had a life in the neighborhood and do not want to abandon it.” They ask them for rents of 2,000 euros.
