Fire in Rouen: “It was like a flamethrower” – Le Point

“I was at the bar, on the ground floor. We saw the flames, it was like a flamethrower, everything was very fast.” Still shocked, Stephanie shows the violence of the fire that destroyed the bar “In Cuba Libre” in Rouen (Seine-Maritime) and left 13 dead and 6 injured, one in an absolute emergency. According to the prosecution, it is a birthday party that turned tragic. The fire broke out around midnight and the fire was caused by the fall of a person carrying a birthday cake topped with candles. “Someone came down with a birthday cake with candles and fell down the stairs,” he told Agence France-Presse Deputy Attorney Lawrence Labadie that “there were candles on projection the walls and on the ceiling “covered with sound insulation. “There was an immediate ignition and spread of gas,” added the deputy prosecutor.

Fifty firefighters were quickly on the scene. At the University Hospital (CHU) of Rouen, the White Plan, activated in the event of exceptional urgency has been triggered. “I was on the scene at the time of the fire,” said Amar Ould Said, 40 years. “They came out of the body every two minutes. They had arranged a treatment area on the opposite sidewalk.”

A judicial investigation

According to the Deputy Attorney parquet Rouen, Lawrence Labadie, victims are between 16 and 25 years. According to Ouest-France, this is a young police 20 who was celebrating his birthday at the bar The Free Cuba, located rue Jacques Cartier on the left bank of the city, an establishment frequented by local youth. Among the six injured, “a person is an absolute emergency,” told Agence France-Presse Yvan Cordier, secretary general of the prefecture of Seine-Maritime. This is a young woman, who was transferred to the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, said the Socialist Mayor of Rouen Yvon Robert. The five injured were hospitalized at the University Hospital of Rouen but came out, according to Mr. Robert.

Bernard Cazeneuve, Minister of the Interior, announced shortly after the tragedy a “judicial inquiry is underway to determine the cause of the fire. ” President Francois Hollande on Saturday expressed “its solidarity and sympathy for the families” of the victims and promised that “everything will be (it) is” to “know the causes.”

A “mousetrap”

in the morning, Rouen police had indicated that the victims were poisoned after a matter of burning ceiling. The investigation will confirm this scenario and will focus in particular on compliance with safety standards. But also, “priority”, the emergency exits, said a source close to the investigation.

A frequent visitor told the Parisien that access to the basement bar made by “a steep staircase,” which he describes as “a wooden staircase, very steep to descend, almost a ladder.” According to this witness, the place where took place the anniversary is a cellar, an almost equivalent size on the ground floor of the establishment, “in the panic that we imagine, get through this was clearly very complicated. ” According to Le Parisien , the basement contained another access, a single door leading to a small hallway leading to the garages at the rear of the building from the 70s of the absent Cuba Libre. Can this be considered a door emergency exit? Not for the witness interviewed by the newspaper, which speaks of a “real mousetrap.” “You see any light signal, a path or a device approaching leading up outside? None of that. How, in panic, get out there?” He asks.

the deadliest fire since 2005

Bernard Cazeneuve welcomed “the overwhelming response and the actions of police and firefighters of the county fire and rescue service.” A medical-psychological unit was opened at the Charles Nicolle hospital in Rouen. The Secretary of State for Vocational Training, Valter Clotilde, visited the site in mid-morning. In front of the orange and red bar whose glass was blown into the fire and burned the store, she expressed “sadness and government support to the families and relatives of the victims.” She then went to the Charles Nicolle hospital in Rouen and is directed particularly to the death chamber

“serious fire in Rouen. Deep sadness at the tragedy that claimed 13 young lives . Compassion and support to the families, “tweeted Prime Minister Manuel Valls. The Socialist Mayor of Rouen Yvon Robert, lamented “a tragedy”. A security perimeter consists of metal barriers were still in place in the early afternoon. Anonymous is filed bouquets or single roses.

There was no fire as deadly in France since 2005. This year, several fires had ravaged buildings and hotels dilapidated, causing tragic balance sheets. The most serious of these was that of the Paris-Opera, an emergency accommodation hotel, which caused, in April, the death of 24 people, including 11 children. On 4 September 2005, in an apartment building in L’Hay-les-Roses (Val de Marne), 18 people were killed. No fire had as many victims in a bar / dance club since 1 November 1970: 146 people died in the Saint-Laurent-du Pont (Isère)

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