French holiday home in deadly fire 'breached safety standards'
A holiday home in France where 11 people were killed in a fire was flouting the fire security standards required for such a property, a prosecutor said on Thursday.
"The lodging had not undergone the safety inspection which is obligatory" and "did not have the characteristics needed to host the public", the deputy prosecutor for the city of Colmar, Nathalie Kielwasser, told AFP.
The fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in the small town of Wintzenheim outside Colmar in the Alsace region of eastern France.
The guests on the lower floor all managed to escape alive and it was those on the upper floor who found themselves trapped.
The property was hosting a group of adults with learning disabilities and their companions at the peak of the French summer holiday season in the hugely picturesque area.
"If you want to drive a car, you need a license. If you want to host people, you have to pass this inspection which then tells you how many people you can host and so forth. We impose a certain number of rules for the sake of safety," Kielwasser said.
The building, an old structure recently renovated, had smoke detectors "but not sufficient for this type of property," she said.
"The smoke detectors were up to standard but they are not the type of smoke detectors that are placed in properties hosting the public," she added.
She said it was not yet clear whether there were fire extinguishers in the building.
The owner of the property, who lives opposite and alerted the firefighters on Wednesday when the fire broke out, is in shock and has not been detained, she said.
The local mayor's office has said there were 28 people in the property when the fire broke out, with 17 escaping alive. It said that the owner had signed a contract to host just 16 people.
The prosecutor said investigations were continuing into whether capacity norms were respected.
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"The lodging had not undergone the safety inspection which is obligatory" and "did not have the characteristics needed to host the public", the deputy prosecutor for the city of Colmar, Nathalie Kielwasser, told AFP.
The fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in the small town of Wintzenheim outside Colmar in the Alsace region of eastern France.
The guests on the lower floor all managed to escape alive and it was those on the upper floor who found themselves trapped.
The property was hosting a group of adults with learning disabilities and their companions at the peak of the French summer holiday season in the hugely picturesque area.
"If you want to drive a car, you need a license. If you want to host people, you have to pass this inspection which then tells you how many people you can host and so forth. We impose a certain number of rules for the sake of safety," Kielwasser said.
The building, an old structure recently renovated, had smoke detectors "but not sufficient for this type of property," she said.
"The smoke detectors were up to standard but they are not the type of smoke detectors that are placed in properties hosting the public," she added.
She said it was not yet clear whether there were fire extinguishers in the building.
The owner of the property, who lives opposite and alerted the firefighters on Wednesday when the fire broke out, is in shock and has not been detained, she said.
The local mayor's office has said there were 28 people in the property when the fire broke out, with 17 escaping alive. It said that the owner had signed a contract to host just 16 people.
The prosecutor said investigations were continuing into whether capacity norms were respected.
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