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Fire in Courchevel 1850

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just woke up to a lot of activity near where we’re staying and one of the hotels is on fire.





Not sure if it was in use but if it was I hope everyone got out
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The blaze is at Croisette in seasonaire accomodation. Radio reporting 2 dead, 4 seriously injured, it was workers from Brazil living there.
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Very sad Sad
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The local prefect has confirmed those numbers, some 60 people escaped.
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Just heard the update. It’s still on fire Sad
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46937175
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Oh no that's awful Sad
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Horrible news. Trying to work out the location of the fire from the photos. Not entirely certain, but it looks like it might be the building that Skiworld used to run a budget hotel in (Chalet Isba?).
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How dreadful! Sad
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Fire started at roughly 430am local-time nextdoor to Galerie St Martin.

A housefire will spread from sparks to a blaze in under 180 seconds.

Poor doods on the upper levels never stood a chance.

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Very grim video of the fire on Planet Ski, shows what firefighters were faced with.
The video is shocking when you look at it closely. I am saying this a a firefighter with 30 years experience. My worst nightmare, not enough equipment or crew to help all those trapped Crying or Very sad

https://www.planetski.eu/news/11280
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Whitegold wrote:
Fire started at roughly 430am local-time nextdoor to Galerie St Martin.

A housefire will spread from sparks to a blaze in under 180 seconds.

Poor doods on the upper levels never stood a chance.



Yes, I'm fairly sure that's the old Chalet Isba. Stayed there a couple of times in the 90s. Horrible for all concerned.
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How awful for all involved.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
It was in awful condition in the 90s. I did a site inspection there and there were wires everywhere and falling to bits. If it was still in that state there will be a lot of questions being asked. Didn't Ski Val also own one there too next door to the Isba?
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Morrissey wrote:
It was in awful condition in the 90s. I did a site inspection there and there were wires everywhere and falling to bits. If it was still in that state there will be a lot of questions being asked.
Yes, it was in a 'bargain basement' state of affairs when I stayed there in the 90s. Only way I could afford to stay in the centre of 1850.
Morrissey wrote:
Didn't Ski Val also own one there too next door to the Isba?
Yes, although I forget the name of the place. It was above TJ's Bar IIRC.
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I think questions have always been asked about seasonairres' accomodation. Sometimes they are seriously crammed in.
We shouldn't judge this individual incident though.
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How it looked in October 2010:

StreetView
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Still a lot of activity going on as I walked past this evening, I think they are trying to make the building safe.
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Is this the resort where the mayor took a bung to close a run because a Russian oligarch was having a party in a chalet adjacent to the run?

Sorry if you think this is in bad taste, but if this is the case, i.e. the resort puts wealth above workers' lives, the only way we can honour the dead is for people know about this and shun the resort.

Don't give me any poo-poo about other companies losing business and people losing their livelihoods - 2 people have died FFS, in the most awful of circumstances - if you support the resort you're complicit in that.
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@Jude1, er, I think that's jumping to a lot of conclusions rather too early.
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@Hurtle, +1

@Jude1, I get the passion, and the basis behind it, but we need to know way more. Perhaps the building was refurbished recently, and the fire was caused by a resident using aroma therapy candles, and made worse by French buildings standards. Who knows. Do you?
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You may well be right, Hurtle. But I've given Courchevel a wide berth since I heard that ordinary punters (who've paid full whack for a ski pass) had their skiing restricted because the resort put money above morals.
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@Jude1, "the resort" is too broad an entity to dismiss in its entirety.
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horrible.
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...


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Mon 11-10-21 22:04; edited 1 time in total
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@anarski, Shocked
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anarski wrote:
Interesting vid from 150 days of winter Vlog

http://youtube.com/v/GlCbhR89sCI&fbclid=IwAR00YQyDl1gSKQah4fQTHAg5um1n3kkA77PEPaVMeKswApmCpEnMy_BcDsA


Not good!
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Until I saw that video I had no idea that fires destroying buildings in Courchevel were allegedly that frequent Shocked
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Isba was still a (Chalet) hotel when I worked in 1850 in the early 90s and it was a bit shabby then. IIRC they had their own ski rental and the (British) techs looked after my skis for free or a beer.

There was some ropey saisonaire accommodation then. My GF worked as a nanny for a french couple and they paid for her to have a shared bunk room with no windows in a horrible building slightly down the hotel. She was so delighted to have somewhere else to sleep that I wondered how much of the attraction was me! Very Happy
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I worked in hotels in the UK when I was younger and the accommodation was appalling: a converted outside toilet, a room with slug trails all around, another with Cockroaches and the worst was a dying static van we were crammed into. The punters of course were all paying top Dollar. Absolutely disgusting. Those poor people in that fire Sad
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Absolutely awful. Coincidentially daughter #2 arrived in La Tania with her bf to start hosting for the rest of the season. They actually turned down a job in Courchevel.

Seems that fire extinguishers weren't working and smoke alarms had been disabled to allow people to smoke indoors.

https://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2019/01/21/incendie-de-courchevel-a-deux-minutes-pres-on-cramait?fbclid=IwAR1jsapDFAQwqp2wo7zIoh9vDQ8ehLae-bsZZ0IvZoFOWW7e6z-WwC0TZNE
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Looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

Old building, bad fire prevention, not enough tall ladders.
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Condolences to everyone affected by this awful tragedy and apologies to the upstanding citizens of Courchevel. Suggesting people shun your resort before the facts are established was as stupid as it would be to suggest people withdraw their tourist pound from London because of Grenfell. (Thanks, Hurtle, for gently pointing out the error of my ways.) I was absolutely livid last night (and worried) having just returned from Milan where I discovered my son's in a potential fire trap of an apartment - long story but the landlady knew, but failed to warn my son and his friend, that the oven should not be used. I'm off to buy him a smoke alarm. He knows not to use the oven of course but I'm worried sick about the electrics etc. now. If you're a landlord/landlady, please don't f**k with people's lives.
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@Jude1, Sad Sad
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sequoiaborg wrote:
Seems that fire extinguishers weren't working and smoke alarms had been disabled to allow people to smoke indoors.

https://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2019/01/21/incendie-de-courchevel-a-deux-minutes-pres-on-cramait?fbclid=IwAR1jsapDFAQwqp2wo7zIoh9vDQ8ehLae-bsZZ0IvZoFOWW7e6z-WwC0TZNE


One would assume that the building owner/letting company were legally responsible for ensuring the fire extinguishers (and smoke detectors) were working. Anyone deliberately disabling smoke alarms so they can smoke is a selfish tw@t responsible at least in part for the deaths of their colleagues and if identified should be prosecuted to the full extent of French Law. Evil or Very Mad
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In my experience of staying in French hotels (3 star and above) I’m not so sure they are very strict on electrical and fire safety laws. I’d imagine they are EU laws so all EU countries should be the same regarding health and safety in theory? I’ve seen some dubious electrical sockets and things where I’ve wondered whereas in Germany and Austria I’ve never seen anything ropey like loose plug sockets and things.
Just an observation I’d made come to think of it.
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Jude1 wrote:
... I'm off to buy him a smoke alarm. ..... If you're a landlord/landlady, please don't f**k with people's lives.

I'd also get a CO2 alarm, which are sensible even when you're living in a place where you control the heating systems.


Quote:
Anyone deliberately disabling smoke alarms so they can smoke is a selfish tw@t

Not specific to this case, about which we know nothing really...

If you're prepared to burn tobacco near other people then you have to be precisely that anyway/
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philwig wrote:
Jude1 wrote:
... I'm off to buy him a smoke alarm. ..... If you're a landlord/landlady, please don't f**k with people's lives.

I'd also get a CO2 alarm, which are sensible even when you're living in a place where you control the heating systems./


Do you mean a CO (Carbon Monoxide) alarm? CO is highly toxic and produced by incomplete combustion of gas (or other fossil fuels) in heating systems.
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Might have a far more sinister explanation...a suggestion it may have been arson, and a criminal investigation commencing.

http://www.lasavoie.fr/a-la-une-la-savoie/incendie-de-courchevel-la-piste-criminelle-se-dessine-ia920b0n210645?fbclid=IwAR1AwRXBhJSXAinjIWtxkpJCfC2zUivMuHzoE-CG02mIhv7zZqXohMXtGrc
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I work as a fire engineer and enforcement officer in the UK Fire Service. I am not familiar with French regs or fire law but I having stayed in may French chalets and apartment blocks over the years, I can say that the standard of fire precautions does not appear as tight on the continent as here in the UK.
In my experience, staff accommodation is often the last place employers and businesses spend money as it is not front of house and seen by the customer.
It must also be considered that any response time by the local Pompiers to effect rescues will have been extended due to the geographic location of Courcheval. Very sad.
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