There are tragedies that reach the category of historical reference. That highlight with a thick line a before and after in the memory of the events. Which will be remembered for years and which will be used as a comparative exercise for future incidents. The tragedy of Valencia, the fire of two towers in a luxury neighborhood, will always be part of the collective memory, for decades.
It is not just about the terrible dimension of the human drama, with nine dead (in addition to one missing person). It is also about the awareness of the fragility of an architectural landmark, elevated during the real estate boom, which in just 30 minutes was consumed by flames. Fueled by an implacable west, the fire devoured it at an unusual speed, completely dismantling the property of 450 people, burning their 143 homes, their houses, their homes, and questioning in form and substance the criteria of a project on which they now weigh. thousand suspicions and that he is subject to judicial investigation.
The story is already known. On Thursday, around 5 p.m., a fire started in a house in the highest tower. The wind blew from the west, with virulence. The first firefighters who responded to the scene were amazed by the speed with which the flames spread. Hours later, the two towers were two torches; They have been completely burned. The rapid alert action prevented what could have been a large-scale human catastrophe. Yesterday some described it as a “miracle” that the dead were not dozens. It’s shocking to imagine the consequences of having happened at night.
Soon, the technicians understood that something had not worked well in a construction that was promoted in 2000 as luxury and “highest quality” homes. Along the façade, the flames spread at an unusual speed, excessively fast, and a black cloud emerged from the fire that flooded the entire city of Valencia.
How could the incident progress so quickly? The question was circulating yesterday among the colleges of architects and engineers in Valencia. There was a first hypothesis: that the façade covering, called “skin” by the architects, and which should include, according to the approved project, a sandwich formed by two aluminum plates with a rock wool coating, which is completely fireproof. , will instead include an insulating but combustible material. This was confirmed to this newspaper by the president of the Official College of Technical Architecture of Valencia (COAT Valencia), Vicente Terol, the entity that has the project documentation and photos.
He pointed out that, if this skin had been built as planned, the rapid spread of the flames or the black smoke they gave off, more typical of polyurethane, would not make sense. He recognized that the way in which the incident evolved “seems to indicate a priori that the characteristics of the façade along with the prevailing wind have influenced it.” The Rigid Polyurethane Industry Association (IPUR) also stated that “there is no evidence that polyurethane was part of the ventilated façade of the building.”
What material did the developer use to insulate the façade? There was another added issue. If rock wool was used, why did the fire spread so quickly? Did you make the sandwich correctly, respecting the configuration of the air chambers? Was the work inspected once it began by the municipal authorities?
Yesterday this newspaper consulted two prestigious architects and an engineer who requested anonymity but who agreed that, during the first years of the millennium, the production of work was so intense that, on occasions, builders resorted to undesigned materials to meet the requirements. deadlines. And that the inspectors were not able to control the projects. But it’s just a hypothesis. The truth is that, if rock wool or even fire-retardant polyurethane had been used correctly, as has been done in many works, the flames would not have had to advance at such a speed.
The building, according to data from the school, was started in February 2006, prior to the Technical Building Code (CTE), which is the current regulations that govern our buildings and came into force in 2006. As a result of the London fire , a modification was made to the CTE in 2019, which increased the requirements regarding materials and ventilated facades like this one, requirements that increase depending on the height of the property. Currently, in buildings of this height, the ventilated chambers must be interrupted in continuity, for example, so that they are segmented and not continuous.
Are there more buildings with similar façade cladding in Spain? There must be hundreds or thousands, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t well made. This type of coating, called alucobond, is, according to all those consulted, an optimal but expensive solution for thermal protection, which is why it is usually applied to luxury buildings or large companies. It would be necessary to analyze project by project to know how many buildings built during the “brick fever” correctly adopted the standards to incorporate fireproof material in this solution.
Suspicions and doubts also spread among the emergency teams, who carried out immense work, risking their lives to rescue people and to safely transfer them to the hotels where they were rehoused and to the Tabacalera municipal building. A firefighter told La Vanguardia that, upon entering the burned building, he understood that the flames had acted with unusual aggressiveness due to their speed. The west wind also helped them reach the two towers.
The tragedy yesterday generated an immense wave of solidarity, and all institutions went out of their way to make physical, psychological and economic means available to families to confront the situation. The main authorities attended ground zero, from the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Valencian President, Carlos Mazón, and the Mayor of Valencia. María José Catalá. Even two municipal housing buildings have been made available to families, as well as resources to access financial aid. The dimension of the tragedy has not yet been determined. And we need to know the truth about an accident that, perhaps, could have been avoided
