The heroism of Julián, the janitor of the building that burned down in Valencia: "I dedicated myself to getting people down. The fire engulfed the entire building very quickly"

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Updated Friday, February 23, 2024-14:06

• Live Follow the last hour of the devastating fire in Valencia

The tragedy of the block of buildings burned in Valencia has so far left four dead and several missing, but the tragedy could have been even greater.

The quick action of

Julián

, the janitor of the building where the fire originated, saved the lives of many neighbors.

"The fire engulfed the entire building very quickly and there was a lot of smoke. It was very fast and the fire spread a lot," Julián told Cope.

"I went up to the seventh floor because smoke was coming out of the halogens, but then the fire was on the 8th floor," he said.

"I dedicated myself to getting people down," although "the firefighters came right away," he continued.

It was with their arrival that his heroic performance ended, a performance that surely prevented a greater death toll.

"They didn't let me go up anymore

," he concluded.

Other residents of the two destroyed buildings have shown their "helplessness" for how they experienced the events, given that they "could not do anything", simply "run away" with what they were wearing, even in their pajamas, given that the fire spread "very quickly, in a matter of minutes."

Vicente

, a resident of one of the buildings affected by the fire that has left four dead so far, told the media: "It was all very fast. There are entire families who have been left with what they were wearing." .

This neighbor explained to the media this Friday that "in a matter of 15 or 20 minutes the entire building was engulfed, we all thought that because of the façade, which has a material that catches a lot and, together with the wind, it burned like a fault in Valencia ", has said.

"There are people who have lost everything, entire families who have been left with what they had," he lamented.

Vicente stayed tonight at his sister's house and pointed out that "there are people who have gone to hotels."

"We are each where we can," he added.

Miguel

, a resident of the first floor of one of the two affected buildings, where he had lived for seven years, highlighted that the fire "spread through the seventh floor" and from there it spread "throughout the entire façade."

The neighbors "went out with each other as best we could and until in a matter of minutes" the flames spread throughout "the entire building."

"We have been left with nothing," he added.

He added that the building's janitor was "the first to get to work": "We started to leave, the older people, those who could, and that's how it was. We left because we detected the smell, we saw that all the plates with fire were falling , the part of the rock wool that was on the facade of the insulation. My wife got dressed, ran downstairs, I also left, with nothing, with all the documentation at home. We have absolutely nothing because everything has caught fire ".

"At first the firefighters believed that they were going to be able to suffocate it, because it was a seventh, but the air that was blowing was unstoppable. Then, they didn't have time, they started to climb and the older people started helping each other," he said. exposed.

Likewise, he has shown how "lucky" he has been to be able to spend the night in his daughter's apartment, but he has warned that other neighbors "have nothing, because there are many people who come from outside or who live on rent."

"It's something that I think is that you're in a movie, it's that feeling... you remember

'The Burning Colossus'

and you say, that can't be, it's surreal, it can't happen to me," he continued, while He has admitted to being in 'shock' after learning that there are fatalities.

"IT WAS A MATTER OF 20 MINUTES"

Leopoldo

, another of the citizens who was at home when the fire started, stated that the events happened "in a matter of 20 minutes" and has shown his "helplessness" because they could not do "absolutely anything."

"Now, they have told us that until the firefighters arrive, which will take at least a couple of days, we will not be able to re-enter the farm," he added.

To know more

Valencian Community.

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Fire.

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Kiko también se encontraba en el momento de los hechos en su domicilio, mientras que su mujer "había bajado cinco minutos antes". En ese momento, ha contado cómo vio "una humareda por detrás", se asomó al balcón y ya "estaba la Policía y mi mujer llamándome", por lo que bajó "lo más rápido" que pudo. "Algunos vecinos ya estaban fuera y yo ya no me podía esperar", ha agregado.

En cualquier caso, ha subrayado que "lo más importante" es ahora que los vecinos "estén bien, porque las personas al final son lo más importante". Pese a ello, ha reconocido "no tener palabras": "Parece una broma, no sabes decir nada porque ayer estabas ahí en casa".

Por su lado, José Luis, uno de los vecinos que ha dormido en el hotel dispuesto para acoger a los afectados, ha relatado que ha pasado la noche "con mucha incertidumbre" porque "no te imaginas" que haya podido pasar esta situación. "Pero es que se quemó más rápido que una falla", ha subrayado, al tiempo que ha insistido en la "intensidad y la rapidez" con la que se extendieron las llamas por el edificio.

"Es una barbaridad, en 20 minutos estaba todo el edificio con más de 600 personas dentro, es increíble, lo que no sé es cómo no han habido más --víctimas--", ha continuado. Sobre la extinción de las llamas, ha apuntado que los bomberos "hicieron lo que pudieron" porque la situación era "muy difícil y complicada", sobre todo para poder llegar "a los pisos más altos". "Pero la cuestión es que al final nosotros nos hemos quedado sin nada", ha lamentado.

"Ahora por la mañana es peor todavía porque por la noche parece que uno está en 'shock' y no se entera tanto, pero la realidad cuando ves la luz es muy distinta. Encontrarte en tu ciudad sin nada, con todo perdido, es una sensación horrible", ha afirmado.

Sobre el momento en que se dieron cuenta del inicio del incendio, ha explicado: "Estábamos sentados en el sofá viendo la televisión y empecé a notar un olor plástico. Mi mujer se fue a la cocina y abrió la puerta que da al balcón y vio una humareda negra enorme. Entonces le dije: Vámonos que va a empezar a entrar humo, y efectivamente empezó a entrar humo por la casa. Nos pudimos poner un pantalón y yo de hecho voy en pijama".

"HE VISTO CÓMO SE QUEMABA MI PISO EN DIRECTO"

Belén, vecina alemana que residía en el cuarto piso del edificio, no se encontraba ayer en su vivienda puesto que se había desplazado hasta su segunda residencia en Dénia (Alicante). "He visto quemar mi piso por las cámaras de seguridad que tenía dentro de la vivienda, he visto cómo se quemaba todo", ha asegurado.

"The phone started ringing when the fire was still small and we couldn't believe what was happening. We have security cameras at home and we have seen live how first the living room was burning, then the bedroom, until the cameras They stopped working. And thank God they caught us in Dénia, we weren't here, we arrived right now," he said.