Firefighters Rescue Two Residents Trapped by Fire in Alicante

Risky rescue in Alicante in the middle of the night. The Prevention, Fire Extinction, and Rescue Service (Speis) of the Alicante City Council saved two people on Wednesday who had taken refuge on their balcony after being trapped due to a fire that broke out in a building on San Francisco Street.

The residents were treated for smoke inhalation, although the intervention of the fire service prevented more serious harm. The two affected individuals are a couple of foreign nationality in their 30s. Both were transported to Dr. Balmis General Hospital for a thorough examination, according to municipal sources.

The firefighters' intervention took place around 11:00 PM, after the fire broke out in the building's meter panel on this central street. Alerted by the fire, the occupants of an apartment on the third floor tried unsuccessfully to leave. Upon opening the door, and due to the so-called 'chimney effect,' all the accumulated smoke in the stairwell rushed into their home.

At that moment, the two residents went out onto their balcony and crouched down to avoid the dense column of smoke generated by the fire in the main protection box, which had invaded the stairs and common areas of the building. While firefighters confined other residents in their apartments, a Speis team proceeded with the 'in extremis' rescue of the two individuals taking refuge on the balcony.

A total of 14 municipal firefighters participated in the operation, distributed across four vehicles, two of which were fire engines and one ladder truck. The damage inside the apartment was caused by smoke, as the flames did not spread beyond the origin of the fire in the meter panel.