One dead and about eighty affected in the fire at a nursing home in l'Ametlla del Vallès

BarcelonaA fire, now extinguished, at a nursing home in l'Ametlla del Vallès has left one person dead and 13 hospitalized due to smoke inhalation tonight, according to Civil Protection. The fire broke out around 10:30 p.m. inside the building, which has a ground floor and three upper stories, and affected a total of 80 residents and six staff members.

The Generalitat Fire Department, which activated a response team with 13 units and about forty personnel, extinguished the flames in half an hour, but the fire had already affected several rooms on the first floor and the smoke had also reached the second and third floors. The residents of the nursing home "have significant vulnerability, and this has made managing the fire very complicated," explained the mayor of l'Ametlla del Vallès, Jan Santaló, to Catalunya Ràdio. Some of the residents were evacuated, while 42 were confined to their rooms.

According to Civil Protection, the fire started on the first floor and it was in one of the rooms where the body of the deceased victim was located, who has not yet been identified. The SEM (Medical Emergency System) activated 16 units and the hospitalized individuals are in less serious condition at medical centers in Granollers, Mollet del Vallès, and Sant Celoni.

With the exception of these people, the rest of the residents have already been relocated to the unaffected areas of the building, located on Llerona street in l'Ametlla. The Department of Social Rights and Inclusion has dispatched personnel to the site to provide support for tasks arising from the emergency.