A beep then a noise, “as if someone was moving,” woke Cynthia up on Wednesday, around 4:45 a.m. On reaching her terrace, the woman who lives on rue Victor-Hugo in Esch-sur-Alzette noticed that a house, close to hers, was engulfed in flames.
“I then called the fire brigade and woke up the neighbors. The occupant of the house was outside,” she adds. The latter, very seriously injured, was taken care of by firefighters at Cynthia’s house, before being transported to hospital. If an investigation must determine the causes and origin of this disaster, the neighbor assures that smoke was coming from the upstairs bedroom. The victim, aged around fifty, suffered “serious burns”, indicates the mayor of the town of Esch, Christian Weis, at The essentials.
All the occupants of nearby houses had to be evacuated, but “not having been affected by the fire, they were able to return home a little later in the morning,” he adds. “A relief” for Cynthia and her family who will just have to replace a window and clean the floor, the firefighters having passed by her house to access the back. The house affected by the fire, on the other hand, is “uninhabitable”, underlines the mayor, affirming that his services are in contact with the family of the victim to rehouse them.
Around 11 a.m., the technical police were still carrying out measurements. Through the half-open front door, one could make out an interior burned and blackened by smoke. Outside, charred objects littered the ground, including a fridge, a microwave and chairs. Part of rue Victor-Hugo was closed to traffic until 1 p.m.
