18 dead in Paris hotel fire

This is a rare occurrence. But I am not impressed with
fire prevention policies in France. Typically residences
have only one exit, down the stair well, so the best policy is
to keep the doors closed, stay in the apartment next to a window.
Fortunately, for central Paris, the buildings are not high and one can be
rescues by ladder.

Earl

*****


18 dead in Paris hotel fire

Officials fear more casualties will be found


(CNN) -- A fire at a hotel in central Paris has killed at least 18 people --
including eight children -- and injured dozens more, fire officials say.

The blaze at the one-star Paris-Opera hotel in the city's ninth district on
Friday morning was so bad that guests jumped from upper floor windows to
escape the flames and choking smoke, officials said.

At least 65 people were injured, 15 of them very seriously, fire brigade
spokesman Laurent Vibert said.

Paris City Hall had rented 26 of the six-story hotel's rooms to temporarily
house families from Africa, fire services spokesman Laurent Vibert said on
Europe-1 radio.

"One can imagine young children, parents without their clothes, in the
middle of the night, fast asleep, smoke, cries, tears," he said.

French President Jacques Chirac labeled the fire one of Paris' "most painful
catastrophes."

The hotel was gutted in the fire that broke out around 2:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m.
EDT) -- possibly in a first-floor breakfast room. Officials say the cause
was accidental.

Officials fear more casualties may be found inside the building.

Officials told AFP reporter Susan Stumme that a baby was among the dead.

Firefighters said the only way out was the main staircase which quickly
became engulfed in flames, she said.

"This could be the reason so many people were trapped on the upper floors,"
she added.

A number of the victims were Africans, who were placed at the hotel while
the welfare department sought a more permanent housing solution for them,
she said.

The injured came from France, the United States, Portugal, Senegal, Tunisia,
Ukraine and Ivory Coast, Stumme said. Fire officials said a Canadian also
was lightly injured. The nationalities of the dead were not given.

Firefighters rescued some people from the hotel, but others jumped out of
windows, fire officials said.

A man who lives in an adjacent building told AP he was awakened by cries of
"Fire! Fire!"

Chakib San said he saw three people jump from the building, including a
woman and a child who lay motionless after hitting the ground.

"They were on the ground. They weren't moving," he said.

"Everyone was screaming," he added. "There were bodies in the road."

The hotel is in a central area of the French capital close to the Galeries
Lafayette and Printemps shops which many tourists visit.

San told AP he spoke to Australians, Canadians and Tunisians who escaped the
fire. A woman who works in a nearby hotel brought out a ladder and together
they used it to rescue a girl from the first floor, said San.

"We got out a little girl. The fire services arrived just afterward," he
said.

Seventy-six people were thought to have been in the hotel when the fire,
whose cause was still unclear, broke out in the middle of the night, Reuters
reported.

The ornate 99-year-old Galeries Lafayette store, popular with tourists and
close to the 19th-century Garnier opera house, was used as a makeshift
hospital to treat some of the casualties, according to Reuters.

Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this
report.

Earl Evleth wrote:
This is a rare occurrence. But I am not impressed with
fire prevention policies in France. Typically residences
have only one exit, down the stair well, so the best policy is
to keep the doors closed, stay in the apartment next to a window.
Fortunately, for central Paris, the buildings are not high and one can
be
rescues by ladder.

Living in a fourth floor apartment in Stuttgart with only one stairwell
access, I have similar concerns. A deployable rope ladder might help,
but I really don't know where to buy one here.

Oh well, another thing to bring back with me on my next trip to the US.

George

"Earl Evleth" wrote in message
...


Fortunately, for central Paris, the buildings are not high and one can be
rescues by ladder.

Or not....

On 15 Apr 2005 03:32:17 -0700, "george" wrote:

Living in a fourth floor apartment in Stuttgart with only one stairwell
access, I have similar concerns. A deployable rope ladder might help,
but I really don't know where to buy one here.

Oh well, another thing to bring back with me on my next trip to the US.

Be sure to get one with metal braces that keep it from clinging to the
wall and give it some stability. A Consumers Reports test of rope
ladders found that those that were just simply ladders of rope were
nearly useless, as most people couldn't get a grip on the "steps" with
their toes and couldn't succeed in using them to climb down from a
window.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

"Earl Evleth" wrote in message
...
This is a rare occurrence. But I am not impressed with
fire prevention policies in France. Typically residences
have only one exit, down the stair well, so the best policy is
to keep the doors closed, stay in the apartment next to a window.
Fortunately, for central Paris, the buildings are not high and one can be
rescues by ladder.

Earl

*****


18 dead in Paris hotel fire

Officials fear more casualties will be found


(CNN) -- A fire at a hotel in central Paris has killed at least 18
people --
including eight children -- and injured dozens more, fire officials say.

The blaze at the one-star Paris-Opera hotel in the city's ninth district
on
Friday morning was so bad that guests jumped from upper floor windows to
escape the flames and choking smoke, officials said.

At least 65 people were injured, 15 of them very seriously, fire brigade
spokesman Laurent Vibert said.

Paris City Hall had rented 26 of the six-story hotel's rooms to
temporarily
house families from Africa, fire services spokesman Laurent Vibert said on
Europe-1 radio.

"One can imagine young children, parents without their clothes, in the
middle of the night, fast asleep, smoke, cries, tears," he said.

French President Jacques Chirac labeled the fire one of Paris' "most
painful
catastrophes."

The hotel was gutted in the fire that broke out around 2:30 a.m. (8:30
p.m.
EDT) -- possibly in a first-floor breakfast room. Officials say the cause
was accidental.

Officials fear more casualties may be found inside the building.

Officials told AFP reporter Susan Stumme that a baby was among the dead.

Firefighters said the only way out was the main staircase which quickly
became engulfed in flames, she said.

"This could be the reason so many people were trapped on the upper
floors,"
she added.

A number of the victims were Africans, who were placed at the hotel while
the welfare department sought a more permanent housing solution for them,
she said.

The injured came from France, the United States, Portugal, Senegal,
Tunisia,
Ukraine and Ivory Coast, Stumme said. Fire officials said a Canadian also
was lightly injured. The nationalities of the dead were not given.

Firefighters rescued some people from the hotel, but others jumped out of
windows, fire officials said.

A man who lives in an adjacent building told AP he was awakened by cries
of
"Fire! Fire!"

Chakib San said he saw three people jump from the building, including a
woman and a child who lay motionless after hitting the ground.

"They were on the ground. They weren't moving," he said.

"Everyone was screaming," he added. "There were bodies in the road."

The hotel is in a central area of the French capital close to the Galeries
Lafayette and Printemps shops which many tourists visit.

San told AP he spoke to Australians, Canadians and Tunisians who escaped
the
fire. A woman who works in a nearby hotel brought out a ladder and
together
they used it to rescue a girl from the first floor, said San.

"We got out a little girl. The fire services arrived just afterward," he
said.

Seventy-six people were thought to have been in the hotel when the fire,
whose cause was still unclear, broke out in the middle of the night,
Reuters
reported.

The ornate 99-year-old Galeries Lafayette store, popular with tourists and
close to the 19th-century Garnier opera house, was used as a makeshift
hospital to treat some of the casualties, according to Reuters.

Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to
this
report.



I don't think that France has a monopoly on bad fire prevention policies.
This was supposed to be a one-star hotel but even luxurious 5-star hotels
have the same problem. I remember that incident in last year's Italian Open
when there was a hotel fire at the Hotel Parco dei Principil in Rome It got
more press than normal because several tennis players, including Andy
Roddick, were staying in the hotel and Roddick supposedly played the hero
and saved a fellow competitor. Anyway, 3 people died in that fire.

Perhaps, when they give out the star rating for a hotel, they should
consider fire safety. A hotel should not be given 5-stars unless it has very
good fire exit routes.

Earl Evleth writes:

French President Jacques Chirac labeled the fire one of Paris' "most painful
catastrophes."

I'd label that some of the President's most flagrant hyperbole. Twenty
people dead, out of 11 million, and it's a "catastrophe"?

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

On 15 Apr 2005 03:32:17 -0700, "george" wrote:

Earl Evleth wrote:
This is a rare occurrence. But I am not impressed with
fire prevention policies in France. Typically residences
have only one exit, down the stair well, so the best policy is
to keep the doors closed, stay in the apartment next to a window.
Fortunately, for central Paris, the buildings are not high and one can
be
rescues by ladder.

Living in a fourth floor apartment in Stuttgart with only one stairwell
access, I have similar concerns. A deployable rope ladder might help,
but I really don't know where to buy one here.

Oh well, another thing to bring back with me on my next trip to the US.

George
If you are fairly agile then why not just buy a strong rope,
tie knots in it evry four feet or so, anchor one end to some
heavy immoveable object, toss the rope out of the window and
absail down to safety.

george writes:

This is a rare occurrence. But I am not impressed with
fire prevention policies in France. Typically residences
have only one exit, down the stair well, so the best policy is
to keep the doors closed, stay in the apartment next to a window.

In older buildings, it is difficult to retrofit them to match modern
principles of fire safety. They have the same problem with elevators
and bathrooms (no room for either, since the buildings were often
constructed before such things were common).

Living in a fourth floor apartment in Stuttgart with only one stairwell
access, I have similar concerns. A deployable rope ladder might help,
but I really don't know where to buy one here.

I've seen a safety device that looks like a long elastic sock. You just
toss one end out the window, fix it to something sturdy at your end,
then slide down to safety on the inside of the sock. The sock's
elasticity and friction slow you down enough to keep you from being
injured, although I suppose it induces a bit of claustrophobia for a few
seconds.

FWIW, fire codes in highrises are very strict, much more so than
anything I saw in the U.S.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Earl Evleth writes:

French President Jacques Chirac labeled the fire one of Paris' "most
painful
catastrophes."

I'd label that some of the President's most flagrant hyperbole. Twenty
people dead, out of 11 million, and it's a "catastrophe"?

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

According to Stalin, the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of
millions is just a statistic. Based on that, I don't think it was
"hyperbole".

punktilious writes:

I don't think that France has a monopoly on bad fire prevention policies.
This was supposed to be a one-star hotel but even luxurious 5-star hotels
have the same problem. I remember that incident in last year's Italian Open
when there was a hotel fire at the Hotel Parco dei Principil in Rome It got
more press than normal because several tennis players, including Andy
Roddick, were staying in the hotel and Roddick supposedly played the hero
and saved a fellow competitor. Anyway, 3 people died in that fire.

Perhaps, when they give out the star rating for a hotel, they should
consider fire safety. A hotel should not be given 5-stars unless it has very
good fire exit routes.

People don't think about fires until they happen. A lot of public
businesses in Paris lock most of their emergency exits during business
hours. I've found lots of stores doing this and a distressing number of
restaurants (restaurants are obviously much more prone to fires).

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.