"My sons saved my life": Benalmádena fire survivor recalls escaping fatal blaze

The blaze broke out at around 5.40am on 30 July in the property on Calle Onix in Arroyo de la Miel. It killed the three residents of the flat above: a 15-year-old boy, his 10-year-old sister and their 49-year-old mother, who died on 4 August after failing to recover from her injuries.

The homeowner, who suffered burns while trying to stop the flames spreading, said his two adult sons were sleeping in the living room when they discovered the fire.

"My sons woke me up shouting 'Fire! Fire!' I got up and one of the curtains was already burning. I grabbed it to pull it down and burnt myself. The fire spread to the other curtain and fell onto the sofa. Straight away the flames reached the ceiling and we had to run out," he told SUR.

He said the fire spread within seconds and that he still thinks about what might have happened if his sons had not been staying with him.

"Our bedroom is at the end of the corridor. We could have died," he said.

The fire was caused by a wireless mobile phone charger left on the kitchen worktop, he explains, adding that it was not placed on anything that could have caught fire.

He said the timing of the blaze made the situation far more dangerous because everyone was asleep.

"If it had happened at 2pm while you were cooking, you'd have seen it, thrown a wet cloth over it or done something, and nothing would have happened," he said.

Instead, the fire destroyed his home and left him without many of his most important possessions.

"You suddenly have no ID, no driving licence, no family record book, no clothes, no photos or work you thought were safe on a hard drive, no things that have a special value for you. I have a car, but I don't have the keys. Suddenly you have nothing," he said.

The flat has been left completely gutted, with blackened walls and structural damage. Nobody has lived there since the fire, while residents of the other four properties on the same floor and the five flats above have also been forced to leave their homes.

Police returned to the property on Thursday, a week after the blaze, but officers were no longer searching for anyone. The flat remains the scene where the fatal fire began.

The homeowner said he felt "very sad and lost" and was speaking to a municipal psychologist while trying to come to terms with losing everything.

The couple initially hoped to repair the property quickly, but he said "the world moves at a different pace" and that they were currently unable even to clear the rubble.

Social services offered them one night in a guesthouse and they are now staying with relatives, where they no longer leave electrical devices charging overnight.

The homeowner has joined other residents in calling for more firefighters in Benalmádena, saying the response to the tragedy showed what he described as an "ineffective" level of fire cover in the town.

Three firefighters and a crew commander attended the emergency. The homeowner said that although flames were entering the upper flat through the façade, the fire was not tackled during the first minutes of the response.

A demonstration has been organised for Friday 14 August at 7pm outside the Casa de la Cultura in Arroyo de la Miel, where residents will call for increased fire service resources. Organisers are inviting people from across Benalmádena to attend, saying "this could happen to anyone".

The homeowner also praised the firefighters who attended the incident, recalling that one of them apologised while he was being taken to hospital.

"That day, a firefighter was crying and apologised because they hadn't been able to do more. I told him he had nothing to apologise for. Quite the opposite, they'd done even more than they were required to. I'm sure Benalmádena's firefighters also want there to be more firefighters," he said.