The fire that killed 13 people in two nightclubs in Murcia on October 1 was “an accident due to negligence”, due to the misuse of a cold fire or spark machine, which caused the fire to occur in a “single and main focus”. caused on the false ceiling of the Teatre Hall, more precisely in the area where the stage where the DJs performed and the machine mentioned above was located. These are the main conclusions of the members of the Eye Inspection Department of the General Scientific Police Station of Madrid, who from October 2 to 11 thoroughly inspected the rooms of the Teatre and the Fonda Milagos in order to look for evidence of the origin and causes of the tragic incident.
This body sent this week to the Court No. 3 of Murcia, where a case of 13 possible crimes of reckless homicide is pending, a report detailing all the evidence collected and which seeks to confirm the hypotheses of other previous writings of the Criminal Investigation Department and the firefighters who also pointed out that the fire started from the Teatre, although all the victims died in Fonda Milagros.
The report to which EL PAÍS had access describes in detail the deplorable condition in which both rooms were left completely burned. Due to the damage to the various elements such as ceilings, columns or poles and their different color, the scientific police assume that the origin of the fire was in the false ceiling of the Teatre nightclub. They hypothesize that the fire developed “slowly in the first phase” within this false ceiling, until the “poor connection of the metal panels” that formed the roof of the nightclub with the structure of the building “allowed an influx of oxygen.” As a result, the fire breaks out and becomes more accentuated and virulent.” In an area close to where the fire broke out violently, the document also states that there was a door that connected the Teatre and La Fonda Milagros, which was “the “The path through which the fire reached the second nightclub” where the attacks occurred. Deaths. In addition, the two rooms were separated by a plasterboard wall, a “not very fire-resistant structure” that was completely destroyed by the flames. The Teatre has another attached space, the Golden nightclub, which was not damaged by the fire. The report states that in this case the separation of the premises “was carried out using some type of fireproof material that prevented the fire from spreading to these premises”.
As for the cause of the fire, investigators determined an electrical fault based on the condition of the nightclubs' wiring and focused on the cold-burning machine. Numerous videos and photos taken by people who were at the theater on the evening of the fire show how the sparks emitted by the machine directly hit the false ceiling of the nightclub, exactly where investigators believe the fire started. These images, the police document says, show that the machine's safety regulations were not followed, which required a minimum distance of 1.5 meters from the end of the sparks to any surface. Additionally, the chemicals used to create cold fires “react with water to produce extremely flammable hydrogen gas,” making them unsuitable for use in humid environments. However, white fog machines that “need a humid environment” were also activated during the party. For police, this circumstance increased the possibility of causing a chemical reaction and creating “a flammable atmosphere.”
The report also confirms the safety deficiencies identified by firefighters, who had to force open several doors with bars and padlocks to access the theater via the actual emergency exits. It also points to possible irregularities in the electrical installation, based on a report from the utility company, which shows that the premises had a contract terminated in August 2015 and that the rooms, which shared an installation, had been “from the general distribution network” since May 2016 The technicians found no “direct connection to the grid or secret drains for power supply,” so the clubs were powered by their own generators, which the agents found in the back alley, which allowed access to the emergency exits, and that it was virtually impossible to navigate as all kinds of belongings accumulated there.
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