The Santa Lucia hospital in Cartagena lived this Wednesday morning of maximum tension after a fire affected block 5 of the health complex. The fire, visible from several kilometers away due to the large column of smoke, forced the immediate activation of the emergency protocol and the evacuation of more than a hundred patients.
Although the material damage was significant, the rapid action of the hospital staff and the fire department prevented any casualties. In the meantime, the Scientific Police is working to clarify the exact origin of the event.
Why did the fire originate in the hospital? The first hypotheses
The first lines of investigation, reported by La Razón, suggest that the fire may have been started by a badly extinguished cigarette butt on the terrace of block 5. After extinguishing the flames, the specialists of the Scientific Police carried out an initial visual inspection of the roof, where they found evidence compatible with this hypothesis.
The Health Counselor, Juan José Pedreño, also confirmed that the first impressions point in that direction, insisting that the most important thing is that there were no injuries or intoxications.
Fire in block 5 of the Santa Lucía Hospital, which has spread very quickly, favored by the wind.
Patients have been evacuated while firefighters work to extinguish. No personal injuries reported pic.twitter.com/I1uzkbQ1kg
– SER_Cartagena (@SER_Cartagena) November 26, 2025
The National Police has opened a formal investigation to analyze all the remains found in the affected area and determine if there was negligence or if some other factor was involved: the fire started around 7:25 am, at which time several calls alerted 112 of the Region of Murcia to see a dense column of smoke rising from the terrace of the building.
The theory of badly extinguished cigarette butts is not new: in 2015 the Santa Lucía hospital already suffered a fire in block 1 and the findings of that case revealed that it had also been caused for this same reason in a maintenance area. This precedent has led the current investigation to examine with special attention any indications that may confirm a repetition of the same pattern.
How was the evacuation operation that prevented a tragedy?
The speed with which the emergency protocol was activated was key to avoid more serious consequences: as soon as the fire was detected, the hospital began the evacuation of four floors of block 5, which housed patients from Oncology and Internal Medicine. More than one hundred people were transferred to other areas of the center itself and, in some cases, referred to the Rosell hospital, located very close to Santa Lucia.
Firefighters from the Fire and Rescue Service of the City of Cartagena arrived within minutes, as their base is less than a kilometer from the hospital. Despite the strong gusts of wind that complicated the intervention, they managed to control the fire in about half an hour.
According to Sergeant Miguel Lopez, several rooms were affected on each of the floors that were evacuated, but the joint work between firefighters and medical personnel made it possible to act quickly and in an orderly fashion.
Flammable facade? The controversy that arises after the fire
After the event, it was suggested that the hospital’s facade may have been built with materials that were too flammable, which would have facilitated the rapid spread of the flames to the outside of the building.
The president of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, rejected these claims and assured that the building complies with all current regulations. He recalled that the hospital was inaugurated in 2011 and that the last safety review (carried out in June 2025) confirmed that the structure “met the legal requirements”.
For her part, the mayor of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, demanded a thorough investigation to determine the exact causes of the fire and to establish whether preventive measures should be reinforced. She insisted that it is necessary to clarify what happened and what actions should be taken to ensure that a similar incident does not happen again.
