The alarm was raised around noon on Thursday, April 20, after a fire broke out under the roofs of a building at 51 avenue des Coutures in Limoges.
The building was completely evacuated, as were neighboring buildings Nos. 52 and 53, and the police established a security perimeter in the area.
Two large ladders and three fire trucks were dispatched to the scene, as was a ventilator truck with all the tools needed to refill the oxygen tanks. In all, around thirty firefighters from the Beaubreuil, Mauvendière and Martial Mitout barracks were required. Enedis and GRDF emergency gas teams also intervened.
“I was eating and all of a sudden the power went out,” says a resident of 53 Avenue des Coutures. I went to the attic, there was nothing there, but I smelled smoke. So I came out of the apartment with my identification papers and there I saw the smoke coming from the roofs. The police then evacuated everyone.”
According to the fire brigade, the risk of spreading was still “high” at 1 p.m. The evacuated residents, more than thirty people, were received by the services of the town hall in a local association of the district.
The fire brigade initiated a counting procedure for the occupants of the three buildings to ensure that no one was missing. The fire brigade began to intervene inside the building at 1:10 p.m.
At 2 p.m., the fire brigade widened the security perimeter with the help of numerous police officers. One of the group leaders announced that the intervention should last a few more hours, the time to carry out the extinguishing operation, the floors to stabilize and the risk of spread, still significant, because “even if the attics do not communicate, the fire can spread through the fire spread out roofs”.
Also affected is the apartment on the fourth floor, under the attic of house number 51, where the fire broke out. If no injuries are reported, the residents must be relocated.
Emily Montalban