The fire which started in the Kennedy Tower in Liège around 2 p.m. was brought under control during the night from Monday to Tuesday. One person lost their life, 9 people were still hospitalized around 9 a.m.
The fire started around 2:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Tower in Liège, causing the evacuation and rehousing of several dozen residents. An initial, provisional report shows one death, while 14 people were hospitalized, including two in absolute emergency. An investigation will have to determine the causes of this disaster.
The firefighters have now set about searching all the apartments. The search should be completed in the morning. “Operations continued throughout the night. At present, we are completely in control of the disaster. We have visited the majority of the building. We still have three floors to visit. During these visits, we discovered two people who were confined to their homes These people have been evacuated and are in a very reassuring state of health. We have teams who will continue their work on site throughout the day to allow the other disciplines to enter the building and do their work. , explained Denis Honders, the director of rescue operations, around 9 a.m.
In total, 244 people were supported during the relief operations. 14 people were evacuated to hospitals. Around 9 a.m., 9 people were still hospitalized, including 3 in intensive care.
These people are traumatized
The mayor of Liège Willy Demeyer spoke this Tuesday morning on the rehousing of evacuees: “We know that this is going to take some time. We cannot resolve dozens of files with the wave of a magic wand. We are going to mobilize all the public services and all the associations which will help us resolve these files. We will have very particular attention to each of these people. It is case by case. We will work with respect because, to varying degrees, these people are traumatized by the event they experienced. Based on the established list, we will work to put rehousing in place.”
The fire, which first broke out in the cellars, spread throughout the afternoon to the entire height of the building via the technical shafts. Smoke was quickly seen in the upper floors of the building. For the firefighters, the intervention was particularly complicated in this building with 26 habitable floors and 32 in total.
The mayor of Liège Willy Demeyer highlighted the difficulties encountered on site by the firefighters: “At one point we had fears because we increased our strength with the firefighters and that was not enough, since one floor, the 20th, was impassable for the firefighters who were advancing. Reason why we used other ladders and the two helicopters”.
“We really used a lot of pumper-type vehicles, we mobilized a lot of firefighters. There were up to 7 pumpers at the same time on the intervention, knowing that we organized staff rotations, because the intervention was extremely restrictive, the building being completely smoked, the personnel had to progress under air from the ground floor, which made the intervention very complex. So we had 60 firefighters at the same time on the site. intervention, knowing that every hour, more or less, we returned the vehicles to their emergency station and brought back fresher personnel. The operation was carried out from the start on one extinguishing part and another. evacuation and rescue part, knowing that the main problem we had was that it was the evacuation routes which were mainly smoked, so the firefighters had to evacuate people with rescue hoods. And we carried out both. operations, but the fire was growing and rising in the floors, and we also managed to climb into the floors, we realized that we were going to face a traffic jam, a bottleneck, the fire was significant at certain floors and the drone images showed us that we had people awaiting rescue and not exposed to fire on the floors above. It was decided to prioritize rescues and consider a helicopter operation to try to evacuate these people.”stressed Major Sébastien Babette, the person in charge of the intervention.
The fire started in the cellar
“Fire in progress at the Kennedy Tower in Liège” we were warned via the orange Alert us button. A lot of smoke was coming from the building this Monday. All afternoon, the firefighters and the police were on site. Everything. A perimeter of Security was put in place, blocking traffic. Around a hundred police officers were also mobilized, alongside numerous firefighters and reinforcements from other cities.
The hoisting of residents on the highest floors lasted all evening this Monday. It was only at 11 p.m. that the operation ended.
A major rescue operation closely followed by many onlookers. “It’s very impressive and I really feel sorry for the people who live in this building. It was the Infernal Tower. It’s very sad”commented Rosine last night.
The Liège police zone explained what happened: “A fire broke out in the cellars of the Kennedy Tower around 2 p.m. The fumes made their way to the technical ducts. The firefighters are on site. The fire officer asked the residents of the tower to remain confined during operations. A perimeter has been established to allow emergency services to work. The municipal phase has been triggered.”
“103 people passed through the advanced medical post,” said Fabian Bertrand, federal hygiene inspector at the end of the evening.
The firefighters indicated that the evacuation of the residents had been quite complicated, because there was smoke on the stairs. So we had to go up to the highest floors and come back down with the residents, because the ladders are not high enough to go that far. The residents had to wait on the balcony of their apartment to avoid being poisoned. They were warned thanks to a BE-Alert. And the police also deployed drones to reassure residents who were waiting to be rescued.
“Reinforcements from the Antwerp emergency zone, with large ladders, have arrived. Those from Brussels are on their way. A reinforcement of helicopters from National Defense and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is on the move to enable helicopter transport“, declared the police spokesperson around 8 p.m.
“Most of the people who were evacuated found refuge with their loved ones. Nearly 70 people will be relocated to hotels or to the Cointe Omnisport hall“, specifies the spokesperson. “All disciplines are at work. Once the crisis is over, the building will remain inaccessible and will be monitored“. A crisis center has been set up at the Charles Rogier Atheneum (Liège 1) where residents are taken care of. 250 people are domiciled in the Tower.
The police, however, have a request for Italian and Croatian fans: “The Paul Van Hoegaerden quay was closed to traffic. In view of the mobility difficulties generated by the current operations, the Liège Police Zone asks Italian and Croatian supporters to avoid any procession in vehicles in Liège after the match, whatever the result.“.
Liège firefighters fire Kennedy Tower
