A SERIES of videos shows how the fire raging in Valencia quickly spread from the interior of one flat and engulfed the entire 14-storey building.
A clip shared on X shows the beginning of the blaze inside an apartment between the fifth and seventh floor of the complex in Nou Campanar, in the west of Valencia city, at around 7pm on Thursday.
But as the flames begin to bellow out of the window and onto the terrace, they seem to quickly latch onto the facade of the building.
A later video then shows the fire spreading up the edifice after taking over several more homes and floors of the complex.
At least 14 people have been confirmed as injured since the blaze was first reported shortly after 7pm on Thursday evening.
Among the injured are nine men, six of them firemen, aged between 25 and 57, four women aged between 27 and 81 and a child less than seven years old.
The fire is described by authorities as Valencia’s ‘worst ever’.
The barrio is described in local press as being ‘relatively new’, and is filled with shopping centres and green areas, including a Bioparc.
A Level 2 Emergency has been declared due to the ‘extensive damage’ and the ‘extraordinary’ resources and measures needed to tackle the situation.
Witnesses told the EFE news agency that the flames spread “very quickly” and caused a “a brutal cloud of smoke” that “practically turned day into night.”
Meanwhile, Esther Puchades, an engineering expert from a Valencia colllege said the intensity of the fire is due to the polyurethane coating on the facade of the building.
Social media users are already branding the disaster ‘Spain’s Grenfell’, referencing the tower block in east London which suffered a similar fate in 2017.
Residents who have been rescued from the building have been sent to various different hospitals in the region.
Firefighters and emergency services are continuing to put out the blaze, with more people feared trapped inside.
The flames have been aided by strong winds on Thursday, which have reached up to 50km/hr.
