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Chirac urges action after 7 immigrants die in blaze

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 08:16 CDT

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)

Source: REUTERS

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