A fire chief confirms that the Generalitat (Catalan government) was already aware of the situation in the Poio ravine almost three hours before the alert.

ValenciaThe chief officer of the Valencia Provincial Fire Consortium, Manuel Alonso, who was on duty on the day of the DANA, stated that the Generalitat's Emergency Coordination Center already knew at 5:30 p.m. that the Poio ravine—whose overflowing caused most of the deaths—"was on the verge of death." He stated this before the Catarroja judge investigating the case, according to sources present at the statement provided to ARA. This is the first hearing since the August strike.

Alonso explained that it was the Emergency Coordination Center itself that informed the Fire Department of this situation after a citizen from the town of Ribarroja de Turia called 112 to report the flow of the ravine. According to the chief officer, this information was passed on to the Emergency Department via the Coordcom computer system, which the various security and emergency agencies use to communicate.

The information provided by Alonso confirms that the Emergency Services were aware of the dangerous nature of the situation long before the public warning was issued at 8:11 p.m. This is also suggested by other revelations, especially the fact that from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. alone, 112 received 2,438 calls from citizens in trouble or who were in danger. The inaction of the Generalitat was allegedly caused by the fact that during the first two hours of the Cecopio meeting, all attention was focused on the possible rupture of the Forata reservoir, which regulates the Magro River. Furthermore, and overwhelmed by a large volume of work,The technicians did not warn their superiors, who were gathered in an adjoining room, of the fatal flooding of the promenade. This saturation is partly explained because on the day of the DANA only47.5% of the planned Emergency staff existed, which is 59 people.

The chief officer of the Provincial Fire Consortium of Valencia has also tried to resolve another of the main unknowns of the management of the fateful October 29, as was the reason for the withdrawal shortly after 2:30 p.m. of the firefighters who watched over the main ramblasAlonso explained that the order came from the consortium's resource coordination sergeant, Gregori Fayos Escrivá, who considered the task complete. The chief officer justified his colleague's decision because the Emergency Coordination Center, which had requested the mobilization of the firefighters, had not asked them again for new measurements of the ravine flows. Fayos therefore interpreted that the Generalitat (Catalan government) would conduct this monitoring in the following hours through other informants. Alonso added that if the Emergency Department had given more detailed instructions, with a request to remain and periodically take readings, this would have been done.

Pradas dictated the ES-Alert

An audio recording made through an RTVE camera microphone at around 7 p.m. on October 29th at the Cecopio reveals that Salomé Pradas, then Minister of Justice and the Interior, dictated the text of the ES-Alert message sent to the population. In the recording, broadcast by the public channel—although these images were obtained with the commitment to publish them without audio—it is heard that the former PP leader requests that the alert include certain elements: "We are also providing communication channels, which will only be 112, the official Emergency Twitter account of the Valencian Community." At another point in the audio, Pradas asks about the situation in the town of Utiel. He is answered by the then Chief of the Valencia Provincial Consortium Fire Department, José Miguel Basset, who assures him that they are still unable to access the area and points out that the situation is "critical." "People must be suffering from hypothermia by now," he adds.

In the recording published by RTVE, a significant conversation can also be heard. This is the moment at 7 p.m. when the representatives of the Generalitat must notify the high-ranking officials of the State so that they can reconnect telematically to the meeting – which had been suspended at 6 p.m. by decision of the Valencian government. It is then that Pradas states that he does not feel like calling Miguel Polo, president of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHX): "I don't feel like it," says Pradas. This is a notable statement because in recent months the PP has Miguel Polo harshly criticized for alleged inaction and for not having personally telephoned the top representatives of the Emergency Department.