Shock in the Majorcan town of Calvià (53,700 inhabitants) due to the death of two people in a fire that broke out early this Thursday morning in a well-known apartment building located in the tourist center of . The mayor of the town, Juan Antonio Amengual, has confirmed the death of two people due to smoke inhalation and the admission to the Son Espases reference hospital in Palma of a third person in serious condition. At least twenty people have been affected by the event. The Civil Guard judicial police are investigating the causes of the fire, which started on the third floor of the building.
The fire broke out in the Trianon building, located at number 18 Martín Ros García street and which has apartments for rent and ownership, on a third floor that at street level is as if it were a minus one. The residents in the building have tried to put out the flames on their own without success and the Mallorca firefighters received notification of the fire at 5:20. The Fire Chief, Xisco Bonnín, explained that troops from the Calvià and Llucmajor parks have been activated. “When we arrived, the fire was powerful and it was difficult for us to access the building,” he noted. Many of the residents were sleeping and, upon arrival, firefighters removed a first batch of between seven and nine people with mild smoke inhalation. Later, they rescued three others, two of whom ended up dying from smoke inhalation.
The firefighters deployed to the scene have decided to keep 10 residents, who were in a safe area, confined inside the building, to prevent them from being affected by the smoke and waiting to fully control the flames. Bonnín has highlighted that the fire has been so violent that it has broken several windows of the apartments, as well as the door of one of the floors. “This has caused the smoke to spread very quickly up the stairs and enter the homes through the façade; this is what normally gives us the most problems,” he noted.
The general director of Emergencies, Joan Fornàs, has stressed that the firefighters have had to use up to three pieces of air equipment to rescue the residents of the property. “It was very violent, there was a lot of fire. The smoke from the stairwell looked like a chimney and affected all the homes,” he said. Around 10 residents have been confined to their homes waiting for emergency services to finish ventilating the building to completely evacuate the smoke. Subsequently, they will be transferred to the field hospital that has been set up around the building.
“The performance of the firefighters has been spectacular,” said the mayor. Amengual explained that the fire did not seem serious at first and believes that the situation has become complicated when some residents have decided to go out to the stairs instead of remaining on the balconies of their homes. The council’s social services have also traveled to the area to assess the possibility of relocating those affected elsewhere. A team of psychologists specialized in emergency situations has also been mobilized.
