The normal thing in this type of chronicles is to begin by answering the 6 w Who (who?), What (what?), Where (where?), When (when?), Why (why?) and How (as?). We can do it: what? A fire destroyed a house in the former Spanish Center, where? On Av Viña del Mar with Pedro Aguirre Cerda street, when? On Thursday afternoon, March 14, 2024; as? For reasons that are being investigated. But it is in the why where we find ourselves with serious problems.
The most obvious thing is to say that the house was destroyed because there was a fire, but why did this fire start? What we know is that the Carabineros Labocar is investigating the causes, but that an abandoned house, without an electrical connection, has begun to burn violently on all four sides, at the same time as the chapel located on one side. All this from one moment to the next, in addition to the fact that according to witnesses a group of individuals had entered the construction moments before, makes it reasonable to presume the intentional origin of the incident.
Also part of the reason is that this house has been abandoned, and that it is valuable land. An attempt was made to transfer the property to the UOH, but the lack of clarity regarding who the partners, owners of shares, were, meant that the deal did not come to fruition. There was also an attempt to transfer the park sector and the mansion to the municipality while a real estate company took charge of the construction of towers in the surrounding area. Let us remember that the park, the house and where the pool operated are in the hands of what was the old Centro Español social club, that is, between those who own some share and the land on the sides, where the tennis courts operate, where There was a gym and the soccer fields are owned by a real estate company created by former members of the club.
Or it can also be added that on several occasions the neighbors had warned of this danger, without finding greater echoes among the authorities. After a first fire that affected this house on November 4, 2023, where for unknown reasons the ceiling caught fire, in the edition of November 5 of last year we published that the municipality indicated that “the power of the Municipality is to notify to the owner to carry out the cleaning, maintenance and care tasks that are necessary to avoid risks. “Despite the fact that it is a private facility, the Municipality – within its powers – has carried out a series of actions aimed at safeguarding the safety of the neighbors who adjoin the land where the Spanish Center is located,” they stated in that moment. They then stated “that in the coming months and, in the event that the owner of the place does not carry out the cleaning and maintenance tasks that correspond to him, within the framework of the powers that the legal order confers on him, he plans to continue carrying out preventive actions (…) this is why the Municipality will convene a working group where the different actors related to this issue are represented, extending the invitation to representatives of the Regional Government, the community and the Spanish Center, with the sole purpose of adopting measures and/or actions aimed at preventing accidents that could cause havoc for the residents of our city.” We do not know if any of these meetings took place or not – at least nothing was publicly reported – but in view of the results it was clearly not enough. Unfortunately, neither firefighters nor the prosecutor’s office cared to investigate the causes of this first incident, simply because it was an abandoned house.
Specifically, what happened yesterday is that for reasons that are being investigated, a raging fire completely destroyed the old mansion of the Spanish Center, presenting the fire with a serious danger of spreading to the houses of the María Luisa village. When the first cars arrived at the scene, the fire was “bursting” large flames appeared on all four sides of the house and on all its floors.
To control the emergency, the presence of the 8 fire companies of the regional capital was necessary, who also requested the support of Olivar and municipal fire trucks.
Given this situation, volunteers from Graneros and Machalí were sent to “cover barracks” in the regional capital. That is, go to the sixth and third companies and be available in the event of another emergency in the city. In fact, the Machalí unit together with a car from the Fifth Company had to respond to an emergency call for a decompensated person in the eastern sector of Rancagua.
At around 7:53 p.m. the emergency was declared under control, the alarm being raised shortly before 4 p.m.
Neighbors tired of requesting attention from authorities
Although the causes of the fire have not been determined, some neighbors expressed their annoyance at what happened, but the large amount of dry grass that surrounded the building could have been an element that accelerated the fire.
More than 10 pump trucks from various fire companies and cisterns were present to attend to the emergency that alarmed the residents of the town, but fortunately did not cause any damage to the homes adjacent to the incident.
Many of the neighbors who live on one side of the land tried to put out the fire by throwing water with hoses, while others climbed onto the roofs to empty a large amount of the precious liquid and prevent the flames from reaching the homes.
We consulted Julia Sandoval, president of the Neighborhood Council of the aforementioned population, who, visibly affected by the situation, showed her annoyance towards the local authorities, since on repeated occasions they had come to request the intervention of this headquarters, but they were not heard. .
“This could be seen coming, I went many times to the governor’s office and to the mayor, to get them to do something, but no one listened to me,” said the community leader.
Sandoval said that they had feared for a long time that this could happen, but fortunately it did not affect the houses, so he called on the neighbors to be alert for 48 hours to watch over their homes.
“We are already tired and I went many times and we were not listened to,” Mrs. Julia Sandoval insisted, reiterating that for several years they have gone to the municipality and the governor’s office, but they ignored her request.
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