Fire forced residents out of their homes in Jaime III

A FIRE that broke out in a second-floor flat in the busy Avenida Jaime III at 10am yesterday caused the fire services to evacuate the entire building and to stop traffic passing through this central road in Palma for an hour. There was only one person in the flat when the fire started, a 71 year old woman, who said that the fire was caused by a candle that was alight in the living room. She believes it had set fire to some flammable material in the living room whilst she was in the bathroom, according to reports from a spokesperson of the Palma City Council. The fire has completely destroyed the living room and filled the other parts of the flat and building with smoke. The quick intervention by the Palma Fire Brigade stopped the fire from spreading any further. However, parts of the building suffered a little damage and the fire brigade had to shore up a ceiling to avoid it collapsing.
Jaime III was closed to traffic because four fire engines, three ambulances and other police vehicles were blocking the street. After twenty minutes public buses were allowed to use the street, and after one hour the road was fully opened to all transport. The woman living in this flat, as well as other elderly neighbours, had to be taken to Clínica Rotger, for possible smoke inhalation injuries. The other people living in the building were allowed back to their homes once the fire had been put out. The National Police are carrying out an investigation to discover the exact causes of the fire.
Further traffic problems happened in Calle Capitán Ramonell Boix in Portitxol, where a drainpipe had burst at 4.30am yesterday, according to a spokesperson from the Palma City Council. The traffic had to be stopped from passing through this area while the pipe was being repaired. A brigade from Emaya worked during the morning and afternoon to fix the burst water pipe to be able to reopen the road so it was back to normal.
Different bus routes were put into place to avoid this area.