24 dead in a fire, it was 40 years ago in Oise

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Their names were Léon, Dézirée, Lucie, Suzanne, Yvette, Augustine, Yvonne… 24 names for the 24 dead in thehospital fire of Grandvilliers occurred Wednesday January 9, 1985.

The fire at the Grandvilliers hospice killed 24 of the most vulnerable residents 40 years ago. No one has forgotten the beginning of 1985 which plunged green Picardy and well beyond into deep mourning.

Even the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand will be at the bedside of the survivors the next day. He will also return a few years later to Grandvilliers to announce “the end of death”.

Fire in the middle of the night

The fire ofaccidental origin took place a little before one in the morning while the residents were sleeping. A night watchman sounds the alarm but it is already too late. When the firefighters arrived on site, more than 200 m² of surface area was ravaged by the flames.

The burning attic fell on the first floor and everything collapsed on the ground floor

The worst affected wing housed the most vulnerable and least mobile people. Some will die without even leaving their beds.

And the thick smoke in the corridors made the work of the emergency services even more difficult. Three firefighters will also be inconvenienced by the toxic gases.

And despite the freezing night of January 9, 1985, the heat of the fire presented a lunar landscape. Almost the Apocalypse.

198 beds were occupied

Around 3:30 a.m., the fire was under control thanks to the 80 firefighters mobilized that night.

Of the 210 beds at the Grandvilliers hospice, 198 were occupied this Wednesday, January 9.

Most of the residents awakened in their sleep will be sheltered at the Town Hall where makeshift mattresses awaited them. The next day, the survivors were transferred to the Beauvais and Clermont Fitz-James hospitals.

40, 35, 26… After a long moment of uncertainty regarding the number of victims, it was finally on the afternoon of Wednesday that the number of bodies officially found rose to 24.

The village hall transformed into an ardent chapel no longer had any festive character.

François Mitterrand in Grandvilliers

Quickly, the rumor of the arrival of the President of the Republic circulated. At 9 a.m., François Mitterrand, arriving via Beauvais airport, landed in Grandvilliers accompanied by a host of ministers including that of the Interior, Pierre Joxe, all welcomed by Guy Bouvier, mayor.

Saturday January 12, 1985, more than a thousand people will attend the funeral of the victims. A giant screen was installed at the church so that everyone could follow the ceremony. A message from the Pope John Paul II will be read by the abbot in charge of the office. Then the funeral convoys will reach the different cemeteries in the region one by one.

Franco-German friendship will be symbolized that day by the presence of the mayor of Bockenheim (German town twinned with Grandvilliers). He traveled 1000 kilometers to attend the funeral.

Four years after the tragedy, François Mitterrand, then at the start of his second term, returned to Grandvilliers to announce “the end of death”, a phrase that has remained famous. The hospices of the 19th century will be over by the end of this seven-year term

After investigation, a water leak combined with the polar cold of this winter of 85 would be the cause of the short circuit in the electrical system yet redone shortly before. The fire then started in the attic of the wooden building. We know the rest.

A controversy over responsibilities and two convictions “in principle” will occur later. But we will remember that 24 residents died that day.

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