As deibid says, the only reason this wasn't an awful awful disaster was the timing of the fire - middle of the night. Deloitte offices were housed in something like 20 of the 25 floors in the Winsdor building.

I can't imagine an inferno like what I've seen on the webcams and the news and not having multiple injuries - the Madrid fire department and emergency teams are, as they have proved so often, first rate.

Frightening that it will take a week to cool off enough for - I suppose - removal of the remains. That's paraphrasing BBC and CNN - and If I misinterpreted that statement - I apolgize in advance. I assume the entire building will be razed - All news reports now say the immenent danger of collapse is past -

Regardless, thank God no one was killed and those injured will recovery.

Deibid has answered for me

Offices were empty because in saturday nights only security personel work. It seems extinction and detection systems failed.

However, if this had happened in working days, the fire would have been detected very quickly, and it would probably have been extinguished inmediately. Obviously moving hundreds of persons to evacuate a building is always risky, so we don't know what would have happened.

Anyway, I still think this time emergency teams and authorities have done their job well.

Fernando

I have seen the fire outside. It was around the corner of my house and I wondered what would have happend on a monday. The fire went so quick it was shocking. Afcourse it would be detected on time but still I saw windows got in extreme fire minute after minute. And what happens if the peoplem above the 21 first floor can't get down.

The building is so stucked between other that it's hard to reach. In Amsterdam (where I come from) but i think also in a lot of other cities there is a space problem so every hole between building is filled. But what if something like that happens in a appartment building pffffffffff.

The arrea will be clossed till wendsday. The coming 48 hours (now 24) the building could still collapse because the iron is getting cold and that could couse collapsing. I wondefr how they are going to break that down?

And now, Here's the Windsor Building - or what's left of it. Read the article at Madridiario here .

Saludos, MadridMan

I was there yesterday and it's amazing how the building has been totally dismantled.
Now they are working hard to reopen the big avenue (Raimundo Fernandez Villaverde) in Sept. 1.