Twenty people died in three residential fires in Zaragoza in a decade.

Twenty people have died in fires at nursing homes in Zaragoza in the last decade. The most serious fire occurred on November 15th last year, when ten people lost their lives in a blaze at the Jardines de Villafranca psycho-geriatric residence in Villafranca de Ebro.

Zaragoza firefighters received the call at 5:00 a.m. and arrived with a full complement of firefighters to assist the 82 inmates at the center. The technical report prepared by Civil Guard experts on the fire concluded that it was caused by the ignition of a cell phone battery inside one of the rooms.

Ten years ago, in 2015, nine other inmates died in a fire at the Santa Fe residence, near Cuarte de Huerva . On that occasion, a 62-year-old resident entered an empty room and set fire to one of the mattresses, killing nine of her fellow inmates. She was sentenced to 61 years, ten months, and fifteen days in prison for nine counts of homicide, nine counts of assault, and one count of arson.

The latest casualty occurred tonight at the Domusvi Zalfonada care home at 56 Avenida Salvador Allende in Zaragoza , where a 93-year-old man died after an oxygen cylinder exploded on the ground floor of the building. By 1:00 a.m., 18 residents had been transferred to the following Zaragoza hospitals due to smoke inhalation : Miguel Servet, Clínico, Royo Villanova, and Nuestra Señora de Gracia, according to sources from the Government of Aragon. When the fire broke out, residents of the Picarral residence and local youth broke windows in an attempt to free the residents.