“Heartbreaking to see him like that”

Sunday November 24, 2024, forty guests had planned to have lunch together in the restaurant room L’Alsace in Keskastel. Almost two months later, the table is still set, but everything around it is chaos, between falling false ceilings, dangling cables and a smell of soot that fills the nostrils.

On the night of November 23 to 24, the establishment was devastated by a fire. More than fifty firefighters, alerted around 4:30 a.m., were dispatched to the site to stop the fire. The evening before the tragedy, manager Talip Yildirim had closed the restaurant around 1 a.m. “I had done the checkout again, everyone had left,” rewinds the 38-year-old man. I didn’t feel anything special. »

The floor hit by the flames first

A handful of hours later, his mother, a resident of Keskastel, went to the scene to do some cleaning and throw away bottles and boxes. “She goes behind and the barn light doesn’t come on. » As she opened the back door of the building, she was met with a cloud of smoke. The upper floor has already been attacked by flames. Panicked, she crossed the street and ran towards the bakery across the street. Busy at the back of their premises, the employees did not hear her. Unable to call for help, she finally stopped a car on the road, occupied by three young people, including a local police officer. “They stayed until seven, eight o’clock in the morning,” notably providing help to manage traffic.

Busy weekends until Christmas

Talip Yildirim, who lives in Woustviller near Moselle, arrived quickly on site. Added to the helplessness is a question: where could the fire have started? After the visit of the RCCI experts

of Dijon and the report of the investigation, which ruled out the criminal act, the most plausible hypothesis is that of a departure between the restaurant and the upper joist floor. “It’s old wood and there were cables in it. One of them must have heated up, but little by little,” explains the thirty-year-old, all the more saddened as he was in the process of finalizing the renovation of his hotel section. “I had stopped operating the hotel for a year because I was under construction. » In particular, he had reduced his number of rooms – from eight to six – to provide more space for two of them.

All had to be brought up to date to match the modern image of the restaurant. “Four years ago, I injected almost 150,000 euros into the room,” underlines the manager of the business since 2014. “I redid the entire interior decor, from floor to ceiling. » And the clientele was there for the end of 2024. “We were full every weekend until December 24”, until the closure initially planned until January 3, 2025. he says he is “saddened”, Talip Yildirim does not want to dwell on his personal case and prefers to spare a thought for his sixteen employees. “They are in a tough situation,” he regrets, announcing that partial unemployment was granted to them last week.

Support from all over France

The native of Sarreguemines now has only one idea in mind: demolish what remains of the building and start from scratch. “It’s heartbreaking to see it like that,” says the man who is already working with an architect to consider a possible reconstruction. We are still far from it, but the desire is there, more than ever. The outpouring of solidarity after the fire also warmed hearts somewhat.

This content is blocked because you have not accepted cookies and other trackers. By clicking on“I accept” cookies and other trackers will be placed and you will be able to view the contents

(more information). By clicking on“I accept all cookies”

you authorize the storage of cookies and other trackers for the storage of your data on our sites and applications for personalization and advertising targeting purposes.
You can withdraw your consent at any time by consulting our data protection policy.

Manage my choices
I accept
I accept all cookies

Facebook PlaceHolder One customer notably opened a fundraiser on the Leetchi online platform to collect donations. “There are people from Keskastel who have written to me from all over France,” adds Talip Yildirim, who can count on the support of the municipality. “They told me it hurt them to see that. » The road will be long to restore L’Alsace

standing up, but with a valiant heart, nothing is impossible.

RCCI: Research into the causes and circumstances of the fire This content is blocked because you have not accepted cookies and other trackers.By clicking on “I accept”

cookies and other trackers will be placed and you will be able to view the contents (more information).By clicking on

“I accept all cookies”
you authorize the storage of cookies and other trackers for the storage of your data on our sites and applications for personalization and advertising targeting purposes.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by consulting our data protection policy.
Manage my choices
I accept

January. “I was alerted by a firefighter who was paged for the start of a fire,” confides the president of the TCK, Nicolas Druar. I was there at 2:15 a.m., I wasn’t very far away. When I got closer, it was beyond impressive and distressing to see. » The equipped kitchen, all the furniture and the garage to store the equipment: everything went up in smoke.

J.M.