A white march in tribute to the victims of the fire which killed ten people last Friday in a residence in Vaulx-en-Velin brought together some 200 people on Thursday in this town near Lyon (Rhône). Relatives and neighbors of bereaved families marched with white balloons before stopping in front of the damaged building to lay flowers and observe a minute of silence.
From the town hall, the procession, compact and intergenerational, moved in silence to get to 12 chemin des Barques, in the popular district of Mas du Taureau.
In turn, participants, joined by the socialist mayor Hélène Geoffroy, placed roses in front of a secondary entrance to the building, the main one being condemned by a metal plate since the fire.
“We see their faces”
“I couldn’t imagine not being there”, underlines with emotion a resident, who did not hesitate “to leave work” to be present. “The victims, I knew most of them: my neighbor from the 4th who jumped, the two sisters from the 3rd, the young man from the 7th. The children of the lady who jumped… so we always think about it, we see their faces,” explains Noria, who lived on the 5th floor with her son. Both escaped the flames by taking refuge on the balcony. Eddie, their neighbor, suffocated by emotion, formulates “a big thought” for the missing and the injured.
The fire, in which six adults and four children died, occurred at 3 a.m. in this seven-storey building, in a popular district undergoing urban renewal. Several witnesses denounced in the media the dilapidated condition of the premises, the lack of fire-fighting devices and the presence of a deal point.
The investigation is still ongoing to determine the causes of the fire which prompted several residents to jump into the void to escape the flames.
The “Le Rhône” residence, comprising 107 apartments in three buildings, was to be renovated as part of a safeguard plan launched in 2018 for a dozen dilapidated condominiums in the district, according to information available on the town hall website. Studies carried out in this residence had “highlighted many technical and financial difficulties reflecting disorders on the equipment (elevators), water and electrical networks, which could raise the question of the safety of the inhabitants, particularly in the event of fire. ”, according to a municipal report of December 2019.
VIDEO. “They will jump, they will jump!” : a neighbor tells the terrible fire of Vaulx-en-Velin
The socialist mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin Hélène Geoffroy deplored the delay of “four years” between obtaining funding and the launch of renovation work. During a meeting with Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in Matignon, she also pleaded for the government to launch a reflection on the support of “modest” co-owners who “sometimes encounter difficulties in maintaining and paying the charges”.