A new building collapses in Toulouse: what happened?

For a year now, Toulouse saw a series of its buildings, often old or poorly maintained, collapse or threaten to do so. This Sunday, January 26, 2025, it is a one-story house, located at number 7 rue du Dix Avrilvery close to the media library in Marengo, which collapsed, like Toulouse News announced it to you at the very beginning of the morning. What really happened? What is the extent of the damage? Our report.

A “potentially squatted” and unmaintained home

If this house, a chartreuse, collapsed quite suddenly, the facts were visibly predictable: not maintained for a while now, the roofing was in “very poor condition”, according to the firefighters, who specified that “the house was uninhabited, but potentially squatted”.

The state of the roof therefore increased the risk of collapse… and what was supposed to happen, happened around five o'clock this Sunday morning.

The roof collapsed in the center of the one-story housecarrying in its path the murs and one mountain of debris. This Sunday, there is only one left gaping breach instead of the roof.

Potentially squatted, but no victims

When they arrived on site, firefighters from SDIS 31 worked to search for potential victims, deploying a dog team and a drone. “There was a suspected victim under the debris for much of the morning. Eventually, no one was hurt nor found under the rubble,” explains the commander Gregory Fabre, who supervised the rescue operations for SDIS 31, this Sunday mid-morning.

In total, no less than 62 firefighters were mobilized on the intervention.

Four people relocated

Also note that ten people living in four different dwellings, at numbers 7, 9 and 11 rue du Dix April and 50 rue du Général Jean Compans, were evacuated by firefighters early this Sunday.

After being sheltered in a room in Toulouse Métropole, four people will be rehoused by the Town Hall. The other six found a solution on their own.

Another threat of collapse

“A 'gable' wall (exterior wall of the house) has not yet fallen. But with the weather conditions of the next few days, there is a threat. We therefore prefer to eliminate any risk of casualties by rehousing them,” adds the commander.

End of mission

Following the interventions of the SDIS, the National Police, the Municipal Police and the Toulouse City Hall services, rue du 10 Avril has reopened to traffic.

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