According to experts quoted by local media, highly flammable cladding on the

building allowed the fire to spread rapidly.

Esther Puchades, who is the vice president of the College of Industrial Technical
Engineers of Valencia, tells Spanish news agency Efe that she had previously
inspected the building.

The building's exterior, Puchades explains, featured a polyurethane material that is

no longer in wide use due to fears over flammability. It also has an aluminium
covering.

"The reason the [building] burned so fast is because of this type of cladding," she
adds.

The cladding has been described by experts as effective for heat insulation but the
ventilation, or gap, between it and the covering means it can be highly flammable.

Luis Sendra, of Valencia's architects' association, says this can cause a "chimney
effect", allowing fires to spread more quickly.

The issue of flammable cladding gained prominence in the UK after the 2017
Grenfell Tower disaster, in which 72 people die

For the moment they are busy dousing the blackened remains of the building to cool
it down, but flames have been seen reigniting at the rear so it could take some time.

Firefighters did manage to rescue some of the building's residents last night, and
several were injured doing so, but Spanish media say they could not reach the top
two floors in the 14-floor apartment blocks.

Drones have spent the night and this morning flying over and around the structure to
help with the search.

And it's not just firefighters who are trying to get into the wrecked buildings. Spain's
forensic police are waiting to go in with them to find out what caused Valencia's
worst fire on record, and why it spread so fast with such deadly consequences.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has just been speaking from Valencia, where
he thanked the emergency services, particularly firefighters, for their essential work.
His government, he said, is there to provide "all types of support" for the immediate
rescue operation, and clarify what happened.

The priority right now is the search for victims, Sanchez said, and the safety of those
involved in the rescue.

The PM made just a brief appearance. He said he was moved by the wave of
solidarity and empathy he had witnessed across the Campanar neighbourhood and
the wider city.

Spanish media reports say firefighters who have worked all morning trying to cool
the buildings have now been able to go inside - though only up to the third storey
due to the intensity of the temperatures.

New details are emerging about the sheer ferocity of the fire, which spread
throughout the two buildings in just half an hour.

El Pais reports that one firefighter had to jump from the seventh floor onto a mat.

Others reached the 12th floor - the buildings had 14 - and were able to rescue
residents.

The Spanish outlet reports that six of those firefighters received psychological
treatment afterwards.

Emergency workers are known to be among nine people taken to hospital, local
media say. Seven firefighters have been treated and five are in hospital. Their status
is not believed to be critical.