Panic broke out in Madrid’s Cuatro Torres business district on Thursday evening after an explosion and subsequent fire broke out in the Torre Moeve, one of the Spanish capital’s most famous skyscrapers. Three people who were trapped were safely evacuated. The fire is now under control.
Journalist at HLN
Source: El Pais
The fire started around 5 p.m. in a technical room on the 25th floor of the 248-meter-high tower, which has a total of 45 floors. According to emergency services, the explosion caused a large plume of smoke that was visible from far above the Madrid skyline.
Several fire crews rushed to the skyscraper to bring the fire under control. Drones and a police helicopter helped to map the situation from the air.
Spanish media initially reported that several people were missing, but emergency services later denied this. “No employees have ever gone missing. Three people were in secure areas on different floors and were in constant contact with emergency services,” an emergency services spokesperson said. Two employees had to be treated on site for minor smoke inhalation.
“Everything went very quickly”
Large groups of evacuated workers gathered outside the building. Despite the tension, the evacuation went remarkably smoothly. “People walked out quickly, but without panic. We had already done evacuation exercises earlier,” one worker told Spanish media. “We had to leave all our stuff behind because everything happened very quickly.”
Another employee described a strong odor of smoke spreading through the stairwell. “It smelled like burnt rubber as we walked down,” he said.
Second fire in less than a year
It is already the second time in less than a year that the Torre Moeve has been hit by a fire. In December last year, a fire also broke out in an electrical installation in the basement of the building. There were no injuries then either.
The Torre Moeve is part of the Cuatro Torres complex in the north of Madrid. The four skyscrapers — Torre Moeve, PWC Tower, Torre Cristal and Torre Emperador Castellana — were built on the former grounds of the sports complex of Real Madrid football club and today form the main business district of the Spanish capital.
