“I suddenly saw several people moving around at the foot of the building. I leaned my head out of the window and saw smoke coming out. My family and I immediately went out.” It is nearly 5:30 p.m., this Saturday, June 29, 2024, in front of a residence located at 109, rue d’Authie, in Caen (Calvados). As he watches the firefighters finish their clearing and reconnaissance operations, this resident of the building explains how he managed to escape with his loved ones a few dozen minutes earlier.
More than twenty firefighters mobilized
Around 4:40 p.m., a violent fire broke out in an apartment located on the second floor. Immediately alerted, more than twenty firefighters were deployed to the scene with their equipment. Many police officers cordoned off the part of Rue d’Authie affected by the fire. The fire was extinguished using a hose.
“We evacuated twelve people who were in this residential building, three of whom were wearing hoods to allow them to breathe better in the stairwell, explains Lieutenant Mickaël Richomme, head of rescue operations for the firefighters. They were all gathered in a local resident’s house to be examined by emergency medical services.
The building had just been rehabilitated
In the end, a woman aged around sixty, who was in the damaged apartment and completely destroyed by the flames, was bothered by the smoke. She was treated as a relative emergency.
The material damage is relatively significant. They should require the rehousing of the occupant(s) of the apartment where the fire started. “It’s a building that is managed by the social landlord Inolya, explains Nicolas Joyau, deputy mayor, who also visited the site. He had just been rehabilitated.”
