Fire trap in Benahavís

Emergency services were called to a residence in Benahavís to find a 71-year-old woman trapped by flames and smoke in her kitchen.

The call came into the 112 emergency centre at 2am from a neighbour who called the emergency services, alerting them to a house fire in Calle Almendro Artola with someone visibly trapped inside. The coordination room immediately alerted the Fire Department, the Health Emergency Centre, the Local Police and the Civil Guard.

The occupant of the house was rescued and suffering the effects of smoke inhalation, but thankfully little else. The woman is said to have become trapped in a corner of her kitchen, unable to escape due to security bars covering the kitchen window. While the blaze left a great deal of damage to the building itself, no one seriously harmed.

Tragedy avoided, despite window bars

Concerns over the danger of closing accesses with bars in homes is not new. There have been many occasions when a fire that is not particularly dangerous has turned into a tragedy due to bars installed on windows. Bars are generally installed as a protection measure against intruders in homes, and they have the peculiarity of closing access to windows and doors that would otherwise be excellent escape routes since they are usually placed on the ground and first floors of the facades.

While bars installed covering windows are commonplace in Spain, there have been numerous cases in which they have impeded escape in the case of a fire and subsequently have led to tragedies. According to the social network group Info-Bomberos, often fire fighters have to resort to angle grinders or yanking off the bars with a tow rope attached to their vehicles, but this is not always practical. 

Today, more updated options exist, such as window bars that can be opened from the inside of the building or reinforced glass windows that are difficult to break.