CWhat was supposed to be a relaxing long weekend turned into hell on the night of Sunday 10 to Monday 11 November for residents of this La Rochelle district, on the edge of Aytré. At 3:42 a.m. in the early morning, firefighters were urgently called to a fire at number 6 rue Seignette. The two occupants – a son and his elderly mother – are already outside, “it was he who raised the alarm”, says Claudine, resident of the adjoining house, awakened by the deafening noise of the blaze, as well as by the smoke .
Firefighters used foam to put out the fire.
Jean-Christophe Sounalet / SO
“I opened my shutters to see what was happening, and I saw that it was very serious, there were already huge flames but they were both already in the garden,” testifies the neighbor . To evacuate the very toxic fumes, they opened the windows, but as a result the fire spread even faster. » Dressed in just a few seconds, Claudine just had the reflex to collect her papers and medical files before going out into the street. Alerted by the noise, the other neighbors first think of fireworks or firecrackers.
A terraced house saved
The firefighters, who arrived very quickly on site, were unable to save the 120 square meter house built in the 1930s. The roof of No. 6 was ripped open, the beams of the frame pierced the parquet floor and are now on the ground floor. -ground floor. At the end of the morning, the observation is overwhelming: all that remains are the stone walls, the foam used by the firefighters and the floor which is still smoking. It looks like a ruin that has been unoccupied for decades. A fire truck remained on site as a precaution.
Jean-Christophe Sounalet / SO
Through the remaining windows of the house on rue Charles-Alquier, the gutted roof is visible.
On the right, Claudine’s terraced house was miraculously saved. “The fire began to spread through the frame but the firefighters intervened from above and the vast majority of my house was spared,” she says with fatigue and relief, still in shock. Unfortunately the house at No. 6 was also adjoining the rear of another house, rue Charles-Alquier, which was partly destroyed.
The electricity which had been cut off for around sixty subscribers was restored in the afternoon by Enedis. The origin of the fire has not yet been formally identified, although suspicions are currently focused on household appliances, particularly a tumble dryer.
