Windsor blaze may have been caused by careless smoker
Windsor blaze may have been caused by careless smoker
Investigators have arrived at the conclusion that the Windsor building blaze started on the 21st floor in the office of the last Deloitte employee to leave the building. The manager responsible for industrial accidents left the building just minutes before the fire alarm went off, and had smoked a cigarette around half an hour before. She insists that she made sure that it was properly extinguished, but as no trace of any inflammable liquids have been detected, investigators are now convinced that the fire started accidentally.
Windsor demolition will take a year and cost €17.5 million Friday, February 25, 2005
Madrid town planning councillor, Beatriz Lobon, announced today that it could take up to eleven months and cost €17.5 million to complete the demolition of the fire-gutted Windsor Tower, which will start tomorrow. Ms Lobon also revealed that a team of fifty people has been put together to undertake the work headed up by fellow local councillor, Emilio Garcia de Burgos. Police forensic experts will be on hand throughout to ensure that no vital clues as to the cause of the blaze are overlooked.
Investigators are currently examining files on the seven fire-damaged computers which controlled the building´s automatic doors, alarms, and maintenance. The computers were recovered from the rubble on the 16th February -three days after the fire- along with several video cameras. A safe containing a large amount of cash belonging to a bank that had a cashpoint machine installed in the building has also been recovered.
Windsor demolition crane collapses Thursday, February 24, 2005
One of the two giant cranes erected around the burnt-out shell of Madrid's Windsor Tower gave way shortly before midnight last night and fell in a controlled manner into the calle de Raimundo Fernandez Villaverde below. It seems that a hydraulic system failure was to blame.
The two 140m cranes capable of supporting a maximum 35 tonne load were installed last Tuesday to carry out the demolition of the fire gutted building which was scheduled to start today now that the 48 hour stay of execution requested by the team investigating the incident to complete their inspections, has expired.
A third crane will be installed in the calle Agustin de Betancourt to demolish what remains of the building's upper floors today, although town councillor, Pilar Martinez, explained that recent severe weather conditions -heavy snow, gales, and rain- "are affecting the building, heightening the risks and complicating the demolition operation."
'Secret' door to Windsor Tower was forced open Tuesday, February 22, 2005
According to an article published today in Spain's right wing daily "La Razon," police investigators have found that the padlock on a "secret" door giving access -via an underground tunnel- to the Windsor Tower, had been forced open. The find was made on Sunday as they were checking all the stricken tower's doors after being informed of the break in by the building's owners.
It casts new light on an investigation already clouded by video evidence taken by a couple from Reus (Tarragona) which seems to show two people inside the building long after emergency service personnel had been withdrawn. A police spokesman admitted that the discovery proves that it was possible to enter and exit the building without being see, but said the investigators, who were previously unaware that the building could be accessed subterraneously, were puzzled that it had taken eight days for the owners to report it.
