The Fire Cluster, CIF Cantabria, has inaugurated its new facilities on Paseo del Niño in Torrelavega.
In the presence of Cantabria’s Regional Minister for Industry, Tourism, Innovation, Transport, and Trade, Javier López Marcano, the event highlighted the cluster’s primary goal:
“To support Cantabrian companies in improving their competitiveness through innovation and internationalization, and to establish a hub for knowledge-based industry in Torrelavega focused on fire safety engineering.”
With these words from the cluster’s manager, Gemma Ortiz, the full-scale fire laboratory was officially opened on Friday, March 26.
This laboratory is equipped with unique and complementary resources for conducting fire resistance and reaction tests.
As founding members and key promoters of the initiative, Hawke Transit System and Burnetts Hispania, part of the Fernández Jove Group, have made their former facilities available to the cluster.
Thanks to the support of SODERCAN, the facilities have been renovated and now feature a large-scale calorimeter, the only one of its kind within the Spanish university system.
This calorimeter measures variables related to fire phenomena and will soon be complemented by a large-scale fire test furnace.
With the presence of the director general of industry, Daniel Alvear; the mayor of Torrelavega, Javier López Estrada; the president of CIF, Arsenio Manzanares; and representatives from all the cluster’s partners (the Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Componentes CTC, SODERCAN, the University of Cantabria, Puertas ROPER, ITM Global, SDS Stop Fuego, and Perlines-Consulting Insurance), the event marked a significant milestone for the region.
This center, unique in Spain, strengthens Cantabria’s industrial network, making it increasingly international, cutting-edge, and competitively positioned. It serves as a platform for generating employment and attracting European funding dedicated to innovation and technological development.
Torrelavega now boasts a project where innovation and research, business and academia, and public and private sectors come together, creating knowledge, jobs, and competitiveness.
Without a doubt, it’s a day of pride for the entire team at Hawke Transit System and Burnetts Hispania, alongside the other companies within the Fernández Jove Group, as we look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
