At least 10 people die as fire engulfs high-rise complex

A day after a fire roared through a high-rise apartment complex in the Spanish city of Valencia, killing at least 10 people, police investigators were trying to determine why the flames had engulfed the two buildings so quickly — in under an hour.

Early suspicion fell on construction materials, but it was hard to tell, since the two structures remained so hot that firefighters could not even enter the buildings until around noon Friday — hours after rushing to the scene the previous evening.

Luis Sendra, the dean of the Official College of Architects of the Community of Valencia, said investigators would have to wait until the structures cooled down to be able to determine whether exterior cladding might have helped fuel the fire. He said that gaps between the insulation and the cladding could have facilitated the spread of flames.

“It's too early to know the exact cause,” Sendra said. “But the speed with which it spread would indicate similarities with Grenfell Tower in London.”

Seventy-two people were killed in that blaze, which consumed a high-rise apartment building in western London in 2017. In that building, flammable materials had been used in the cladding, which accelerated the spread of the fire.

Speaking at a news conference Friday morning, Carlos Mazón, the president of the regional government, announced a three-day period of mourning and said that seven firefighters had been injured in the blaze.

El País newspaper quoted a regional official, Pilar Bernabé, saying that the death toll stood at 10. City Hall said earlier in the day that five people had died in the fire.

Dramatic footage in the Spanish news media showed one firefighter jumping from the seventh floor to a safety mat on the ground below. Two residents were also rescued from a balcony after becoming trapped by flames: As firefighters held back the flames with fire hoses, the residents scrambled from balcony to balcony to reach a rescue platform lifted up by a fire truck.

The complex in Valencia, Spain's third-largest city, was made up of a 14-story building and a shorter building, with a total of 138 apartments, according to Sendra.

A team of 15 forensic officers from the national police are carrying out an investigation into the blaze. The cause of the fire was also unclear.

It was not yet clear what materials were used on the outside of the buildings.