Véronique is lucky to be alive.
The fire which destroyed a house made up of three dwellings in the center of Maureillas at the start of the night of Thursday January 2, 2025 did not cause serious injuries, but could have had a completely different outcome. Véronique, a 62-year-old disaster victim, living alone in her duplex, wanted to testify.
How were you alerted to the fire?
It was 11 p.m., I was sleeping when I heard my smoke detector go off. My room is at the top of the duplex and my instinct was to pull up a chair to turn it off. It was when I turned my head that I saw smoke coming up from the stairs that I hadn’t yet smelled.
Why this reflex to deactivate it?
In fact, I was half asleep and figured I had yet another faulty detector having already had several that kept ringing for no reason to the point where I unplugged them. It was at Christmas that I said to myself that it wasn’t reasonable and I installed a new one two days before the fire. I was lucky to have taken a model with a pre-installed battery because otherwise I would probably have procrastinated for a few days to get a battery.
What did you do when you became aware of the fire?
-When I saw this smoke on the stairs, I just took my slippers, my glasses, my phone and my jacket, I went down and I opened the front door which opens onto the landing (located on the 2nd floor and which leads to two apartments including the one on fire, editor’s note). The smoke had invaded everything and rushed into the apartment. I suffocated, I couldn’t see anything, I just heard my neighbor shouting to follow her, I couldn’t see her, she took my arm and pulled me down the stairs. She came back to get me after putting her son in the street, while people were telling her to wait for the firefighters.
What is your state of mind today with a few days of hindsight?
I am lucky to be surrounded, I have my three children. A friend had accommodation that she was able to rent to me and I have a salary. I was not shocked to see the flames which only spread later in my apartment, before the floors collapsed. I know that I lost everything from a material point of view, but I think that everything can be rebuilt. In this building, a mother of a child lost everything and is now in a mobile home, the neighbor below had just stopped working to devote herself to her new sewing activity at home, specializing in upcycling and she no longer has any working tools, all his equipment is under the rubble. I am the least to complain about.
Why are you testifying today?
I wanted to send the message to people to have a smoke detector and never turn it off, even if it goes off when you’re cooking. It was this device that woke me up and saved me. I have an armored door behind which you can’t hear the sounds of the hallway, or even when someone knocks. My neighbor knocked loudly many times without me hearing her. I had recently installed a doorbell, but with the smoke and in the panic, she didn’t see it. If I hadn’t had this alert, the outcome would not have been the same. I also wanted to thank her for coming to get me because I was lost in this stifling smoke. Thanks to her I didn’t need hospitalization, even though I coughed up soot for several days. I’m lucky to be alive. I also wanted to thank the residents for their generosity which touched us all a lot, even if I don’t feel like a priority.
