Estepona apartment fire forces full building evacuation

Residents displaced overnight as emergency services rescue three people from third-floor blaze in Huerta Nueva

Condition of the flat where the fire originated. (CPB)

A major fire in the heart of Estepona forced the occupants of an entire block of apartments on to the streets on Monday night as ... a third-floor apartment on Calle Huerta Nueva was completely gutted by flames.

The inferno, which broke out late in the evening, prompted a massive response from the Provincial Firefighters Consortium, who arrived to find the building heavily shrouded in thick black smoke.

As the blaze tore through the flat, the building’s stairwell became an impassable chimney of smoke, trapping several residents in the upper storeys. Firefighters were forced to deploy a turntable ladder to reach those stranded, successfully evacuating three people directly from the facade.

The casualties, which included two victims suffering from smoke inhalation and a third person experiencing a severe panic attack, were rushed to a nearby health centre for urgent treatment.

While crews battled the flames from both the interior and the street, the intensity of the fire left the third-floor property a total loss and caused significant smoke damage to the communal areas of the block. Once the fire was extinguished, the focus shifted to ventilating the structure, but the damage was severe enough that authorities barred residents from re-entering their homes.

Neighbours were forced to find alternative accommodation overnight as the building remained cordoned off. Local investigators are now working to determine the exact cause of the blaze, while building inspectors assess when it will be safe for the displaced families to return to their properties.