MADRID (AFP) – A fire erupted yesterday in a home for the elderly and those with mental health issues in the Spanish town of Villafranca de Ebro, killing 10 people and critically injuring two.
The Jardines de Villafranca residence was opened in 2008 as a home for the elderly but had recently started to taken in people with mental health problems.
Authorities said there were 82 residents and two workers inside when the blaze broke out at the facility in the northeastern town of some 850 residents.
“We must stand with the victims of this regrettable event which has left 10 people dead and two in a critical condition. Hopefully these two people will recover,” Minister in Charge of Cooperation with Spain’s regions Angel Victor Torres told Spanish public television TVE.
The mayor of the town Volga Ramirez Gamiz told reporters the fire broke out at around 5am and was concentrated in one room but smoke spread throughout the residence.
“Fortunately that room has a security door,” which prevented the fire from spreading, she said.
“There was a lot of smoke, outside too, you couldn’t even breathe”.
Many of the residents had “mobility problems” which made it difficult to evacuate them quickly, said Gamiz. “There are people from all walks of life, with many problems. Very young people, because there are people as young as 25 years old. In other words, we are not just talking about older people,” she said.
The central government’s representative in the Aragon region, Fernando Beltran, told reporters that an investigation would be opened.
“The cause of death of each of these 10 people I cannot say yet, because it is under investigation, but in a phenomenon of this nature normally the highest number of deaths is usually due to smoke inhalation,” he said.
Torres suggested a lack of staff at the residence at the time of the blaze may have played a role in the death toll. It is important “that the residences have a different format, and undoubtedly these are issues that should also make us all think and reconsider.
Undoubtedly what we cannot have is cutbacks when talking about the elderly, because…they have difficulty in any situation to be able to move,” he added.
