Havana/A fire that occurred this Monday morning in Havana left at least one fatality. The fire took place in an apartment in a 12-story building located at 792 Lombillo Street between Hidalgo and Estancia, in Nuevo Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución municipality, as confirmed to 14ymedio residents in the property.
According to what a neighbor told this newspaper, the flames started around 11:00 am in an apartment on the fifth floor of the building, built in the 1980s by a microbrigade from the Ministry of Transportation. A 95-year-old woman died in the accident. “There was a first explosion and they tried to open the door, but they couldn’t. Then there were other explosions and she was inside, and they couldn’t get her out,” said the same source.
Other residents of the area comment that a gas explosion could have been the cause that started the fire, although authorities have not confirmed the event. The 12-story building is supplied with so-called “street gas”, which arrives through pipes. The flames did not spread to the neighboring apartments.
Several neighbors point out that there were detonations prior to the fire, which suggests the possible explosion of gas or an electrical generation plant.
In videos broadcast on the networks, you can see, through the windows, the interior of the apartment burning. Subsequently, images of the façade around the balcony, covered in soot, were also widely spread on social media.
“Twelve-story” buildings (largely prefabricated since the 1980s) abound in the Nuevo Vedado area, built with technology inspired by Eastern Europe and housing dozens of apartments. Many of the materials used in false ceilings tend to be prone to increasing the intensity of flames.
In April 2021, a fire in a building in Vedado destroyed an apartment after an air conditioner shorted out. In June 2024, another incident in the iconic Girón building, on Malecón and F, required firefighters to intervene in a 17-story complex.
In the case of the property on Lombillo Street, several neighbors point out that there were detonations prior to the fire, which suggests the possible explosion of gas or an electrical generation plant, increasingly common in Cuban homes due to long blackouts.
