The body of a woman was found in the rubble of the fire which broke out last night in the former squatted Denuzière boarding school in Caluire-et-Cuire. Two people are currently in absolute emergency and all the victims have been evacuated to a reception center.
A lifeless body was found in the rubble of the fire which broke out on the night of Monday December 2 to Tuesday December 3 shortly before 1 a.m. in the former Denuzière boarding school, currently squatted and owned by the city of Lyon located at the 1st rise of the Boucle in Caluire-et-Cuire, BFM Lyon learned from corroborating sources.
According to our information, it was the testimony of a man living in the building who alerted the emergency services. He reportedly explained that he jumped out of the window to escape the flames, but his wife did not follow him. Since this morning, she has been actively sought. When the emergency services intervened, she was missing.
A drone was used to carry out checks in the building before hiring a dog team. In fact, the fire considerably damaged the structure of the building which was in danger of collapsing. It was impossible for firefighters and police officers to safely enter the building that had been squatted for almost a year.
At the start of the afternoon, the lifeless body of a woman was finally removed from the rubble.
Two injured in absolute emergency
Significant emergency resources were deployed: 139 firefighters and Samu du Rhône teams. The fire was brought under control after more than two hours of fighting, around 3:31 a.m.
The fire also left two people seriously injured who jumped out of the window to escape the fire.
The victims were evacuated with a bus requisitioned from TCL to a reception center organized by the Red Cross. A medical-psychological emergency cell was activated.
A few hours after this fire, at midday, the elected representatives of the Right, Center and Independent opposition group in the Lyon municipal council denounced in a press release “a scenario written in advance”.
“The mayor of Lyon then chose not to request the evacuation of this squat and no danger order was issued. The criminal liability of the mayor of Lyon is therefore engaged here,” they estimated.
The city of Lyon, for its part, wanted to “express its solidarity with the victims and their loved ones as well as the groups who support them”. “At this time, we are not aware of the circumstances of the incident,” she concluded in a press release.
Arthur Blet and Hugo French with Emma Forton
