The Government representative rules out any criminal liability and attributes the fire to a fortuitous accident
“There is no indication of a crime, it is an unfortunate accident that originated inside a home due to the fault of a kitchen appliance.” This is what the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, said this Monday, when asked about the causes of the fire in the Campanar building in Valencia that took the lives of ten people, once the secret summary of the investigation, which rules out that the fire was caused by an electrical device in a clothesline located on a balcony, as had been said at first.
Bernabé explained that “from this moment the insurers will be able to act and will be able to review all the issues that affect the victims” and reiterated that “there is no criminal act, it is an unfortunate accident and from this moment it remains in the hands of of the insurers so that the victims can resume their vital project”.
The court provisionally files the case opened for the fire and allows the insurers access to the property
Last Friday, March 8, the Court of Inquiry number 9 of Valencia provisionally agreed to the dismissal of the open case for the fire as the police could not find a criminal origin of the fire. The court of inquiry has authorized the access of the insurance companies to the affected building, with police supervision, in order to facilitate the carrying out of the relevant arrangements to compensate the injured, since this measure does not interrupt the police investigations.
The fire spread in record time and caused ten deaths and 15 injuries
The fire started on February 22, around 5:30 p.m., in apartment 86 of one of the two buildings made up of 138 properties that were consumed by the fire. In just one hour from the start of the fire, the flames had burnt down the two blocks of flats, with 10 and 14 floors, where around 450 residents resided. As a result, 10 people lost their lives and 15 others were injured, including seven firefighters.
Due to the fire declared in these buildings built in 2009 – the time of the real estate boom – by a developer that went into bankruptcy, all the emergency operations were activated – firemen, police, health workers, forensics – and a court case was opened to investigate the facts and determine the causes of the fire, which spread in record time. Now the court has provisionally shelved the proceedings as the police did not find the criminal origin of the fire.
