2023-08-19 17:25:51
Two lodgings which accommodated severely handicapped people within the framework of adapted stays were checked after the fire of a similar establishment in Wintzenheim (Haut-Rhin) which killed eleven people. The inspection of the two lodgings “showed that the fire safety system was not working” and that the municipal operator had not carried out “the mandatory annual or bi-annual technical checks” of its installations, indicated the prefecture in a press release. They will only be able to reopen after a “compliance” and a new “passage of the security commission”, specified the prefecture.
The prefect also sent, in addition to this individual decision, a “message of firmness and call for a sense of responsibility to all operators of establishments open to the public” on these security points.
The two lodgings evacuated
The inspection, which took place on Wednesday, brought to light a defect in a fire cupboard in each of the gîtes which had both had their “Tourisme Handicap” label renewed at the start of the summer. “On the merits, there is no debate”, concedes Loïc Groslambert, municipal councilor in charge of the rental of the lodgings of this village of 250 inhabitants. But the elected official denounces the form of an operation carried out “to set an example” by the prefecture, “not to take care of the residents”, “shocked to see gendarmes and firefighters” entering the premises. The two lodgings, which have capacities of 20 and 16 people, were indeed evacuated this Thursday morning, while the stay of the holidaymakers was to end this weekend.
Eleven people perished on August 9 in the fire of a cottage in Wintzenheim: ten people with mild mental disabilities came on adapted holidays as part of a stay organized by an association of Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) called Oxygène Vacances Adaptées, as well as a guide. According to initial findings, the cottage, managed by a private owner, had not been declared to the town hall and had not been visited by the safety commission.
An investigation for homicides and involuntary injuries aggravated by the violation of an obligation of security or prudence has been opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
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