The working day had not ended yesterday, Monday, when the Alicante City Council announced that its Fire Department had already inspected 90 of the 135 buildings of more than ten heights that exist in the municipality. It was about going through a catalog of properties that firefighting professionals know well; In 2021 they thoroughly reviewed their fire protection systems and the characteristics to take into account if intervention was necessary.
But in this case they were looking for something very specific: if among those 135 properties any of them had their façade covered with the construction system and ‘sandwich panel’ type materials that the devastating fire in the Valencian neighborhood of Campanar has made infamous. We will have to wait until, probably today, they finish their tour to find out if there are any.
Logically, the Valencia city council is also willing to carry out this analysis on 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 the fatal causes that led to the unusual evolution of the fire.
The tremendous impact that the tragedy has caused throughout the country has an impact on a general demand of public opinion to which the authorities are beginning to respond: to know if what has happened can happen in their neighborhoods.
Governments such as the Catalan and Madrid governments have commissioned 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 are studying in Valencia in search of data. to explain what happened.
Yesterday, the Minister of Territory, Ester Capella, announced that next Friday, March 1, the working group that will evaluate whether there are buildings in Catalonia with the same characteristics as the one that was damaged will meet for the first time. “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 sink,” explained Ella Capella.
The president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, demanded that the Ministry of Housing review the technical building code approved in 2006, to which the aforementioned government department responded by arguing that this document was updated in 2019, as a result of the tower tragedy. Grenfell in London, where there were 72 deaths due to 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 event “to say where the materials should be used and where not,” although she promised “maximum collaboration between administrations.”
Political groups from the city councils of cities such as Barcelona and Madrid have demanded that the building census be reviewed to evaluate possible risks. In Zaragoza, the council has begun an “in-depth” analysis and diagnosis process to identify buildings with coatings made of flammable materials.
Among numerous other examples, the Logroño City Council intends to review all buildings in the city that have a construction license prior to 2006 and the mayor of Oviedo, Alfredo Canteli, assured that the City Council will review the residential buildings of the municipality to ensure that the material that covered the façade of the building that burned in Valencia has not been used.
