The PP rejects investigating the Ibis hotel fire in Málaga and will only quantify the costs

Málaga City Council, with a PP majority, has rejected the creation of a technical commission to investigate the fire at the Ibis Málaga Centro hotel. Only the quantification of the operational costs, which lasted almost two months, was approved.

The fire at the Ibis Málaga Centro hotel, which kept the capital on edge for almost two months, will not have a technical investigation to analyse what went wrong. The City Council, governed by the PP, rejected the motion from the Socialist Group that called for the creation of a commission to evaluate the management of the emergency.

In the Urbanism, Mobility and Security Commission, the votes from the PP and its partners dismissed seven of the eight Socialist proposals. The only initiative that passed was the preparation of an economic report detailing the extraordinary costs of the operation.

A technical commission that will not be

The Socialist motion proposed a technical commission with representatives from the Fire Prevention, Extinction and Rescue Service (SPEIS), Local Police, Civil Protection, the Security Area, and the Municipal Urban Planning Management. The aim was to analyse the origin and evolution of the fire, the factors that prolonged its duration, the coordination between services, and the sufficiency of human and material resources.

“We need to know what happened to improve in future emergencies,” argued the Socialist spokesperson. However, the proposal did not receive sufficient support, and the governing team completely dismissed it.

Proposals rejected en bloc

In addition to the technical commission, other initiatives fell through, such as evaluating the use of new technologies (drones or thermal cameras) during the intervention, analysing the safety and occupational health conditions of the personnel, and creating a specific operational guide for high-complexity fires.

The proposal to present the conclusions to the municipal Plenary and to promote actions to clarify administrative responsibilities if deficiencies were detected was also rejected. The Socialists lamented that the PP has closed the door to any self-criticism.

Only the money matters

The only point approved, the fifth of the motion, obliges the City Council to prepare an economic report quantifying the extraordinary cost of the fire. The document will include mobilised human and material resources, overtime, replacement of equipment, and any other expenses derived from the operation that lasted for weeks.

“We will know how much it cost, but not if it could have been done better,” criticised an opposition spokesperson. Meanwhile, the governing team defends that the economic balance is sufficient and that municipal services acted correctly.

The fire at the Ibis hotel, declared in March, forced the evacuation of dozens of guests and kept firefighters active for almost two months. The flames affected several floors of the building, located in the heart of Málaga, and generated a huge column of smoke visible from kilometres away. Neighbours in the area reported disturbances and traffic disruptions for weeks.

Now, the City Council will limit itself to calculating the expenditure, without assessing the management of the emergency. The Socialists have announced that they will take the matter to the Plenary to continue demanding a thorough investigation.