The fire, declared yesterday on Carrer Major in Llucmajor, continues to rage uncontrollably after more than a day. The accumulation of rubbish due to the owner's Diogenes syndrome, a 78-year-old retired teacher, has fed the flames and caused the roof to collapse.
The Bombers de Mallorca have been fighting the flames for over 24 hours in a house on Carrer Major, number 75. The fire, which started at 3:15 PM on Wednesday, remains active early this afternoon due to the enormous amount of rubbish accumulated inside. The owner, a former teacher aged 78 with Diogenes syndrome, was rescued unharmed and is currently admitted to the Psychiatry unit at Son Llàtzer hospital.
A fire fueled by decades of accumulation
When firefighters arrived on the scene, they found the house packed with bags of rubbish filled with magazines and paper, reaching all the way to the street door. The woman had been accumulating junk for over ten years, and the Llucmajor Town Hall was already aware of her situation, although it had not managed to obtain judicial authorization to remove the waste. This accumulation has acted as fuel, generating a fire load so intense that it has caused the roof of the property, a two-storey village house, to collapse.
The flames spread to the adjoining property, where four people from two different families had to be evacuated as a precaution. On the other side of the property is a vacant lot, which prevented further damage. Firefighters have mobilized units from the Llucmajor, Felanitx, and Manacor parks, and have been spraying water on the building continuously throughout the night and morning, but the fire remains uncontrolled.
The fight against Diogenes syndrome
The case of the elderly woman, a retired teacher, highlights the complexity of addressing Diogenes syndrome from the authorities. According to sources from the Local Police of Llucmajor, the Town Council was aware of the situation and had attempted to intervene, but the lack of a court order prevented action. The woman was transported by ambulance to Son Llàtzer hospital, where she remains in the Psychiatry department, in apparent good physical condition but with evident mental health issues.
Local residents, who have anxiously followed the fire's progression, point out that the accumulation was a known problem and that they feared something like this could happen. Carrer Major has been closed to traffic all day, and emergency services recommend that nearby residents keep their windows closed to avoid inhaling smoke. The Bombers de Mallorca hope to control the fire in the coming hours, although the large amount of combustible material makes it difficult to predict when it will be extinguished.
Meanwhile, the Llucmajor Town Hall is considering measures to prevent similar situations from recurring, although municipal sources acknowledge that intervention in mental health cases requires a delicate balance between individual protection and collective safety. The community hopes that this tragedy will raise awareness of the need for timely action.
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