About Olympus
About Olympus
Olympus Fire Safety was set up at the end of 2020 by Frances Maria Peacock to support their work as an expert. It is primarily a research organisation which specialises in fire safety, fire engineering and fire dynamics and does not trade, although its principal engineer can be contracted to companies on an individual basis.
What does Olympus do?
- Technical research and reports
- Fire investigation
Valencia Fire
On 22 February 2024, a serious fire occurred in a 14-storey building in the Spanish city of Valencia. Dubbed "Spain's Grenfell" due to remarkably similar behaviour of the fire which rapidly consumed the facade of the building, whilst breaching the compartmentation of the flats from the outside as windows failed, it claimed the lives of ten people. A stay-put policy was in place and people were told to remain in their flats. Those who fled survived, whereas those who remained died. A young family of four, including a two week old baby girl, was turned back on the stairs by firefighters. All were later found dead in the bathroom of their flat where they had become trapped. Olympus produced an initial draft of a report shortly after the fire which was publicly released, but now no longer available. Since the release, further information has emerged, and a second (and final) version of the report is now available. It examines the causes and development of the fire, how it spread, and how the design and geometry of the building influenced the fire behaviour. The report forms part of the formal investigation, and its aim is not only to provide answers, but also to contribute to a better understanding of facade fire so that lessons learned and similar incidents prevented in the future. The cause was initially attributed to a faulty electric awning on the exterior of the building, but has since been found to be a gas leak from a fridge-freezer.
The image above was supplied by Aproicam (www.aproicam.org)