/05/2007
Monday, May 22, 1967 at 1 pm: The department stores A L'Innovation are
ravaged by a fire of exceptional violence. More than
150 firefighters have been mobilized. They
counted 323 dead, 150 injured and they had to fight for eight hours against a
hell of more than 10,000 square meters.
Here is the flash info of the time
to listen here
This was the greatest tragedy that
Belgium has known in peacetime, since its independence.
A huge crowd rushes to the immediate
vicinity of the disaster scene. Parents, friends and curious
are there, helpless in the face of the drama that they already know
murderer. Some pass security cords and mingle with rescuers
who oppose, the front of the water to that of the
fire. The rage of conquering the fear of failing.
New road
Cries pierce the burning curtain of
toxic fumes escaping from the second and third story
windows. They go out at the same time as the blaze reactivated
by the air rushing through the open doors and windows. On the
cornices of the upper floors cling to customers and staff members who have
managed, after often desperate efforts, to escape the flames.
"Do not jump, we bring the
ladders," shouts a rescuer at the address of a young woman in the midst of
a violent nervous breakdown. The flames lick the window of the
second floor, by which she has just pulled out of the fire. Her
dress and face bear the marks of her desperate flight, a struggle for life in a
panic-stricken crowd. She approaches the edge of the
ledge. She's
crying. She runs into the void and crashes at the foot of the
half-open ladder. Other bodies, including those of young
children, are already strewing the ground.
The tragedy of innovation will mark
a turning point in the prevention and organization of relief in Belgium.
(Journal Le Soir
1967).
That was 40 years ago
.... Let's have an emotional thought for all
the families of the victims of this disaster.
I'm sorry if these images shock you
but it was imperative for me to talk about this disaster ... No website talks
about this event and I do not want us to forget this event
.... There is still many questions about the fire of Innovation
.... Will we ever have an answer?
The work of destruction
...
I would like to thank Charly ex
firefighter in the city of Brussels for the documentation and invite you to
visit his blog by clicking on his name. At the same time, I
welcome Dane, a firefighter to the city of Brussels and all his
colleagues who save lives every day.
A word from Charly,
Like you, I searched the net without
result. To believe that what was said at the time
could be true and thus hide the truth by broadcasting as little information as possible. It
was said that this had been intentionally provoked, 1st
version: promoters and minister were accomplices, 2nd version: the famous
American day, the doubt still exists, we also find a site that speaks about it,
but I do not know where. At the level of the families of victims, there
were only relatives and friends to support them, today said that there are
psychiatrists, but it only lasts a lapse of time, a drama such as that the you mark yet for life. Already for us firefighters,
there are lived dramas that can not be forgotten,
especially about children, but we have chosen this profession that we love
or have loved and we must assume it. Personally
I'm proud of the job I've done for 32 years, believe me that I miss it despite
I wanted to leave. Since my inactivity, I feel like I have become useless,
especially when I see my colleagues in action on the news. When you have
this profession in the skin, it does not leave you any more and I thank you for the words about our profession, it's a
pleasure.
thank you on behalf of our big family that are the firefighters.
Charly
It was the 1st of May 1985 when the
CCCs placed a bomb in Brussels ....
Let's never forget the firefighters who died in the line of duty.
10:47 Posted in Fire Innovation and disasters , Fire to innovation | Comments (48) | 
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17/04/2007
40 years already the fire of innovation Rue Neuve in Brussels
For
hours it was the sorry sight of this huge column of smoke on Brussels
.... What a disaster This fatal May 22, 1967 ...
See
the testimony of Mr. Dehon ...
The fire of Innovation: testimony of
a survivor despite himself.
This unfortunate Monday lunch, sandwich of Togni and swallowed at Van Malder,
next. Then return to the office at Priba whose
building is located between the streets of the Laundry, Damier
and Rue Neuve. The usual route of the church of Finistère diagonally crosses the ground floor of L'Inno to join a public access little known in the rue du Damier. It must be 13:25, nothing to report. I
ride the 3 th floor,
a few words with the boss for the jobs of the afternoon; my workstation is
located against the window on rue du Damier. I
make a call to my girlfriend ...
Sirens sound at around 13:45. Holding my future wife
online, I open the window to see a fire truck engaged in the street Damier: there is smoke ... Then sounded the alarm
bell! Staff must evacuate. My boss decides to check if the windows
are closed, I accompany him in this mission and loses sight of him. I
return to my office to see me as employees of the Board of Telephone, the
building across the street, shouting to me that there are people trying to
reach the balcony on the 5 th floor. I
rush in without knowing too much.
There, on the roof of L'Inno, a group of people indicate that there are other people
waiting for help. We are two or three on the balcony and it is the young
me! - who climbs on the roof of L'Inno. The roofs of L'Inno
are complicated: a first level decorated with horizontal concrete beams gives
on a ladder of fire, which leads to another level also with a ladder towards a
new level ... leading to a species of inner courtyard with a last ladder
adjoining a French window. The left side of the court is
decorated with a series of vasistas, in the
bottom there is only one. On the roof are three or four survivors
including a lady of strong build. We push and
pull to the next level, then comes a man who feels unwell and breaks his nose
on the rungs of the ladder. I was under. He is
finally hoisted, I am the last and I am stupidly alone.
That's when I really see the Bunsen beak that has become the
central canopy of L'Inno. And
that I see someone breaking with the help of a ballet handle the skylight of
the bottom of the court. Will I go down this ultimate ladder? I'll never do it because a flaming piece of cornice has just
crashed on the roof where I am. First reflex, cover me. I go to an under slope to find that it houses
gas cylinders. I do not appreciate it too much and comes up with the
second reflex: flee immediately!
I climbed the ladders in the smoke and debris that fell to
the wall leading to the balcony of Priba, where there
was no one left. I hit the wall, took the stairs to find myself in the
lobby. Firefighters were trying to extinguish a fire in an inner
courtyard. One of the men of the fire rushes on me and leaving his
equipment covers me with his leather jacket to rush me outside. That's when all the windows of L'Inno,
side of the Damier Street explode. We wait a few
seconds and the fireman ejects me in the street where
an unfortunate writhes in pain in a gutter already filled with water. Then
I call my parents and go through the Rogier place
where the personal identifications take place.
The next day, the young people are called
for inventory work at Priba. I go there with my
camera. I take this opportunity to make some shots, then
I manage to give a hand to the firemen who water the Priba
/ L'Inno adjoining walls that threaten to
collapse. These are the photos you find
here. They have never been published on the net
... or elsewhere.
With all my sympathy to the
relatives of the victims.
Robert Dehon
"The Day After": around L'Inno and from Priba.
To locate it, oblique aerial
published in "Le Soir" of May 25, 1967. In
red, the route of R. Dehon from the balcony of Priba; in blue, the main axis of the photos; in
yellow, the glass roof of L'Inno.
The
street Laundry, right the branch Priba.
Rue
Neuve seen from the corner of Mechelen.
The famous pediment of the Rue Neuve seen from the rue de Malines.
L'Inno restaurant area seen
from the rue des Roses: the building collapsed.
Firefighters
in action seen from the rue des Roses.
Inside
the 5 th floor
of Priba which completely burned.
View
the 5 th floor
of Priba to Inno.
Water
infiltration reached the 3 th floor
of Priba: recovery of business documents is
not NASA.
All
pictures below are taken from the roof of the 4 th floor of Priba,
sometimes leaning a little ... They testify to the incredible violence of the
fire. Note the steel beams bent by the intensity of the heat.
This
is for me the iconic image of the Inno fire:
"stairway to heaven", a funny impression anyway ...
