Chirac urges action after 7 immigrants die in blaze

By Jon Boyle

PARIS (Reuters) – Seven immigrants, including four
children, died in a fire in a rundown building in central
Paris, three days after 17 people died in a blaze in a crowded
apartment block used by African immigrants.

Monday night’s fire raised new questions about the
conservative government’s fire safety record and housing
policies, which have been under attack since a fire in April
killed 24 people at a Paris hotel used by immigrants.

Fire-fighters struggled for an hour to bring Monday night’s
blaze under control after it broke out in the stairwell of a
building in the historic Marais district of the French capital,
fire officials said.

Some panicked residents jumped from windows in an effort to
escape the flames.

A fire brigade spokesman said six people were killed at the
scene and a hospital spokeswoman said a child, who fell from
the building, later died from the injuries sustained.

Five fire-fighters were among 13 people injured. Two people
were in a serious condition in hospital.

President Jacques Chirac expressed his horror at the fire,
offered his condolences to the families and ordered a prompt
investigation into “another dreadful fire.”

“What seems to me to be vital today, after this second
drama, is that we, together with all the relevant authorities
… take the measures needed to avoid dramas such as this,” he
said during a visit to the city of Reims northeast of Paris.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin would shortly announce
strong new measures, Chirac said. The prime minister’s office
said an official inquiry into the fire was underway.

Pierre Aidenbaum, mayor of the district where Monday’s fire
broke out, told France Info radio the building had been
occupied by around a dozen families from Ivory Coast in West
Africa.

“These people were living in unacceptable and dangerous
circumstances,” he said, adding that the city authorities had
launched steps in July to rehouse the families.

He urged local authorities in the suburbs surrounding Paris
to play their part by providing low cost public housing.

CALLS FOR ACTION

The tragedies have sparked outrage over safety standards in
hostels and rundown buildings used to house immigrants.

“This gives a real idea of the toughness of the society we
live in, so the authorities should fulfil the undertakings it
has made,” Francois Bayrou, leader of the centrist UDF party
and a government critic, told France 2 television.

“We’ve been saying for a long time that we’re going to
intervene in these squats, in these numerous outdated buildings
and that we were going to intervene to ensure that at least
basic fire safety norms were respected.

“This is a problem in which urban planning, housing policy,
immigration, people without residence permits, misery and
exclusion all come together,” Bayrou said.

Thousands of immigrants and poor families live in rundown
hotels or shabby buildings in Paris because of pressure on
housing. The city authorities say more than 100,000 were
looking for public housing in the capital last year.

That represents an increase of around 15,000 over the past
10 years. Paris allocated just 12,000 homes last year.

(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and Sophie Louet)