Deployment of firefighters and traffic officers
Several fire brigades have been dispatched to the area, who have had to deploy several meters of hose given that it was impossible for vehicles to access those streets. Different police patrols and traffic officers from the municipality of Andorra la Vella have also moved to the area.
Evacuation of homes
Police and city officials have been responsible for requesting the temporary abandonment of homes in the area while the scope of everything was not clear. Fortunately, everything will have remained, essentially, in material damage. A priori, the occupants of the affected building will not be able to return home tonight as a precaution. They will have been rehoused in the flats of friends and relatives.
Cause of the fire
Supposedly, according to eyewitnesses, one of the residents of the building was smoking on the balcony and by mistake he had taken the cigarette in a clothes bucket and the flame would have immediately gone up, to the fourth floor where the man lives to be transferred to the hospital. Some lit items have fallen to the pavement and right in front of the entrance to the block, old, ancient, there was various rubbish that has taken. And this has caused an even bigger flame to take off that has scorched the facade of the building.
Fire and police intervention
The police have cut off Carrer Ciutat de Valls and other accesses to Placeta del Puial so that the firefighters could deploy the hoses comfortably. And work with all the power they need. The fire control itself did not cost too much. The structure and other adjacent buildings had to be checked to rule out major damage. In principle, there would be no structural elements affected, but it will probably be necessary to evaluate it during the day to be able to ensure everything. The firefighters had to make sure that nothing was revived. Shortly after midnight, the equipment began to be folded up while scientific police officers began their work of reconnaissance of the facilities, of the building.
Presence of the authorities
There have been several police officers from patrols and GSMO who have approached the place with different commands, with the senior inspector on duty at the head. Also different teams of firefighters and traffic officers. The councilor responsible for Circulation and Parking, Xavier Surana, also made an appearance in the Puial square, where there were several residents and where the owner of the affected property has moved.