A fire yesterday afternoon forced the evacuation of the hotel Vibra Cala Tarida in the municipality of Sant Josep. Nobody was injured.
The fire started around 5pm in the laundry area, for reasons under investigation, and quickly intensified, forcing the urgent evacuation of the entire establishment for safety reasons. Although the hotel accommodates more than 300 guests, at the time of the fire only about 120 were in the hotel.
According to testimonies, during the evacuation, which was so fast that those affected did not even have time to grab their belongings, there were moments of panic, and some guests, along with some workers of the establishment, had to be attended by medical personnel due to anxiety attacks and smoke intoxication, explained the Sant Josep Policía Local yesterday afternoon on their social networks. The 061 said last night that were eight people affected by smoke inhalation. Their condition was mild and none needed to be transferred to hospital.
Chemicals hindered the extinguishment of the fire
In the laundry where the fire originated, chemicals are stored that apparently complicated the extinguishment, said a spokesman for the City Council of Sant Josep. At about 10pm, approximately five hours after the evacuation, the evacuees were given bags of snacks, a sandwich and fruit, but there was still uncertainty and a lot of nerves, and the lack of attention caused some criticism. It was also criticised that the evacuated employees of the establishment were last night demanded to start their shift at 5am today to get the facilities ready, when the firemen were still working and they still did not know where they were going to sleep.
According to a spokeswoman of Vibra Hotels, the fire affected only one of the four blocks that make up the establishment and was controlled at around 9pm. “It appeared more spectacular than it actually was,” she said. The guests staying in that wing, about 70 people, were rehoused last night in other establishments of the hotel chain.
Several fire departments, 061, Civil Protection and Local Police were deployed to the area.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.