Three buildings evacuated in Palma house fire

THREE buildings on the corner of calle Bonany and Pascual Ribot in the Palma district of Son Pizà, were evacuated yesterday at midday when dense smoke triggered alarm in the area following a devastating terrace fire. “When we got close to the terrace, the flames were so extensive that instead of the fire having been started by a faulty record player, as had originally been suggested to us, we had to wonder if it had been started intentionally”, commented a fireman. The building had two sealed access doors which had to be forced open by local police because of risk of the spread of fire and for fear of the collapse of the roof of the top floor flat. Ambulance personnel attended to people at the scene but it proved unnecessary to transfer any of them to hospital.
The fire which broke out at about 12.15pm caused significant damage to the building. It was therefore necessary for residents to be rehoused by Palma city council's social services. The block was chiefly inhabited by residents from the sub Sahara, most of whom were out working at the time.
In a separate incident, the kitchen of a two-storey house in Puerto de Alcudia was destroyed by fire yesterday. Damage was sustained by the rest of the building which was unoccupied at the time of the fire. In spite of the smoke generated by the flames, the police managed to put out the blaze using an extinguisher, without needing to call the fire services. The cause of the blaze remains unknown.