The Aragonese Government confirms that the Villafranca residence has the appropriate licenses and complies with the anti-fire standard

The Jardines de Villafranca residence, where this Friday Ten people died and two others were injuredhas the relevant licenses and complies with fire regulationsas confirmed this Saturday by the Department of Social Welfare and Family of the Government of Aragon.

After the review carried out by the Department, it has been concluded that the psychogeriatric center located in the Zaragoza town of Villafranca de Ebro has the documentation in order to be able to develop their activity. Thus, it is in possession of the activity licenses, both municipal and those issued by the Government of Aragon. Furthermore, it has the maintenance certificate of fire protection installations after the review carried out in February 2023.

Likewise, Jardines de Villafranca also complies with the staff/resident ratio which is advised by the technicians and which marks the presence of one worker for every 35 residents on the night shift. In fact, at the time the fire occurred there were two workers for 69 users of the 72 available places.

Although different hypotheses are considered within the research, the main idea originates from a woman and a cigarette. It is believed that a resident reportedly smoked while receiving oxygen. This could have caused the flames to spread faster and the fire to accelerate.

For her part, the director of the residence, Carmen Torrijohas conveyed his condolences to the families and relatives of those who died in the face of “a terrible misfortune“. “There are times when misfortunes cannot be avoided,” he added. Furthermore, both the president of Aragón, Jorge Azconlike the Zaragoza mayor Natalia Chueca have given their condolences and expressed their state of shock.

Two employees were the ones who notified the firefighters of the fire, however, the nearest park is 28 kilometers away, so several neighbors went to the scene to help. One of them was the mayor’s husband, Volga Ramírez, who did not hesitate to get into the middle of the smoke to remove the elderly with less mobility. “It’s been hard to see people you know pass away.and here (in the residence) there are not only older people, there are 25-year-old people with mental health problems, who go out to town, walk around and we know them all,” he reported.