The possibility that it was an electrical failure that caused the start of the fire that ended up burning a two-tower building in Valencia, causing 10 deaths, is gaining strength. This is, however, a hypothesis, not supported by any official data, which is based on several details. The first, as Levante-EMV and El Español announced this morning and this newspaper has confirmed, is that the tenant or owner of house 86, on the eighth floor, was not there when the incident began.
That is, there was no a priori, human intervention. Logically, the fire was caused by some electrical element that, in addition, must have been located on the terrace of the apartment, since it is in that place where, as could be seen in the images, the fire originated. Regarding what element it was, it had to be some appliance or plug near the terrace awning, because this accessory was the first to catch fire, also according to the images.
Sources from the estate’s administration have indicated that many neighbors installed electric awnings, with an external motor, which could also be added to the long list of possible appliances: from a boiler to a lamp that had been left on. The scientific police entered the house today with the aim of trying to determine the cause of an accident that has also left more than 400 people homeless.
A technician specialized in analysis of the causes of fires from the Valencia Fire Consortium consulted by this newspaper points out that, according to the images, an “electrical failure” seems likely, although he emphasizes that we must wait for scientific policy to prepare its analysis. . This specialist adds that in a case like this one cannot say how long it will take to find out the specific cause, which will depend on many factors, including the testimony of the owner or tenant of the home.
What there is broad consensus on, as this newspaper has explained, is that the fire spread at high speed through the materials that made up the coating or “skin” of the building’s façade and through the air chamber. In fact, even the Valencia fire chief acknowledged his surprise at the great speed at which the two towers of the building caught fire in just a few minutes.
The judicial case for these events was initially opened last Friday by the Court of Instruction 10 of Valencia, which was acting as incident guard and which decreed the secrecy of the proceedings for a month to protect the police investigation into the cause and circumstances. of the fire
