During the night from Saturday to Sunday, a fire broke out in a “Harry Potter” themed lodge in Furdenheim, near Strasbourg, where a family was staying for the weekend. An investigation has been opened, which should determine whether this accommodation, unknown to the town hall services, was up to standard.
A symbol of the dangers of wild Airbnbization? Monday, November 25, a little girl died after the fire in the night from Saturday to Sunday at the Airbnb where her passing family was staying in the small town of Furdenheim (Bas-Rhin), located about fifteen kilometers west of Strasbourg. The parents managed to get out with three of their four children, but were unable to free the last, aged 10, from the bedroom where she was sleeping upstairs.
Originally from Chaumont in Haute-Marne, the family had rented this “Wizard Suite” for the weekend, a Harry Potter-themed gîte located in an old renovated farmhouse. The gîte’s Instagram account, which the local daily Latest News from Alsace had been able to consult in recent days but which has since been deactivated – just like its Airbnb page and its Tiktok and Facebook accounts – boasted “a fully equipped apartment of 110 m² on three floors for six people” where you could sleep in themed rooms “Slytherin” or “Gryffindor.”
The declaration to the town hall, a mandatory step
“I saw this poor family… This lady who kept repeating: “My daughter, my daughter, my daughter!” And this father who screamed: “I couldn’t save her!” told DNA a neighbor who herself had to evacuate her home located in the same courtyard, with her three young children. Next to them, there were already three little girls. I realized later that there was still one inside.”
According to the conclusions of a fire expert, cited by the DNAthe fire would have started from an electric radiator on the ground floor and the smoke would have risen quickly. Was the accommodation up to safety standards? The neighbor cited said she did not hear any fire alarms going off. Furthermore, as confirmed with Liberation the mayor of Furdenheim, Marc Herrmann, the accommodation had not been “declared to the town hall for furnished tourist accommodation and we were not aware of the rentals made by the owner”. However, the declaration to the town hall is a mandatory step to be able to rent to the public accommodation which is not their main residence.
An investigation was entrusted by the Strasbourg public prosecutor’s office to the Truchtersheim gendarmerie brigade, which did not wish to communicate. The owner of the lodge was interviewed for the first time on Sunday, according to DNA.
In August 2023, the fire in a lodge in Wintzenheim (Haut-Rhin) left 11 people dead, also surprised in the middle of the night. The housing manager had been indicted for “manslaughter by manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence” for having exploited “an establishment open to the public without authorization” and not having declared “the destination of the building nor the capacity to accommodate the public when filing building permits or declarations of work with the town hall”.
Swiss
Related News :