A tragic fire in a nursing home in Zaragoza on Friday evening has resulted in the death of a 93-year-old man. Additionally, twenty other residents were hospitalized with smoke inhalation. The blaze, which erupted at the DomusVi Zalfonada senior center at Avenida de Salvador Allende, 56, necessitated a large-scale emergency response and the immediate evacuation of numerous residents.
The Inferno Erupts: Swift Action Saves Lives
Around 11:10 PM on Friday evening, flames engulfed the lower part of the building. Of the 132 residents at the facility, 46 had to be evacuated immediately. A coordinated emergency team, comprising national police, local police, firefighters, and health services, quickly arrived on the scene. The emergency forces acted decisively: to free trapped individuals, windows were broken. Twenty residents, exhibiting symptoms of smoke inhalation, were transported to Miguel Servet, Clinical, Royo Villanova, and Nuestra Señora de Gràcia hospitals in Zaragoza.
Rescue and Relocation: A Night of Organization
In the early hours of the morning, the management of the DomusVi Zalfonada senior center, in close coordination with the Government of Aragon and the Zaragoza City Council, worked to find emergency accommodation for the 26 individuals who could not return to their rooms. Three residents were moved to other floors within the residence, four were taken in by their relatives. Ten individuals temporarily found shelter at the Ballesol Mariana Pineda nursing home, three at Ballesol Allende, and five at Vitalia Expo.
Heroic Moments: Eyewitness Accounts of the Fire
Eyewitnesses described dramatic scenes from the initial moments of the fire. “The kids were breaking windows to get the elderly out. They were terrified,” they reported. Darwin and Walter Castellanos, waiters at the nearby Gorricho bar, were alerted to the disaster by the smoke. When they saw elderly people trapped, they ran to get a hammer. With it, they broke windows to get the residents out of harm’s way as quickly as possible. “We told them to hold on,” the two recounted. The smooth functioning of the fire doors prevented an even greater catastrophe in the relatively new building, which consists of a ground floor and two upper floors and has a capacity for 150 people.
Investigations and Official Statements
Officials from the Scientific Police, the Criminal Police, and the Duty Court have launched investigations into the cause of the fire. Numerous relatives gathered near the residence after midnight to get information about the condition of their loved ones. The Mayor of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca, the Government Delegate in Aragon, Beltrán Blázquez, as well as Ministers Roberto Bermúdez de Castro (Finance) and Carmen Susín (Social and Family), and Zaragoza City Councilor Ángel Lorén were also present to assess the situation.
Mayor Chueca confirmed that the fire broke out in the room of the deceased, where two people were present. The 93-year-old unfortunately could not escape to safety. She emphasized the quick intervention of the local police and firefighters: “Thanks to this quick intervention, there were no more fatalities.” The 19 people hospitalized did not show serious injuries. Chueca highlighted that the fire door functioned effectively, preventing the spread of smoke to a larger part of the wing. “The fire affected the ground floor. On the second and third floors, residents, apart from the fear, are sleeping peacefully,” the mayor explained, assuring that families were being informed by the residence.
The Minister for Social Welfare, Carmen Susín, confirmed that 23 residents were being transferred to other nursing homes in Zaragoza that had already been contacted.
Looking Back at Tragic Fires in Zaragoza
This tragic incident joins a series of fire disasters in nursing homes in Zaragoza. In the last ten years, there have been twenty fatalities in the region from three fires in residential buildings. The last serious accident occurred on November 15, 2024, in Villafranca de Ebro, resulting in ten deaths. That fire broke out in a wing of the Jardines de Villafranca psychogeriatric center, causing a massive amount of smoke. Another devastating fire occurred on July 2, 2015, at the private residence “Santa Fe” in Cuarte de Huerva, just six kilometers from Zaragoza. Nine elderly people died, and nine others were injured. The perpetrator of the fire, a resident, was sentenced to 61 years in prison by the Zaragoza court in July 2017.
