After the shock, the emotion. Several hundred people gathered this Saturday afternoon in front of the town hall of Vaulx-en-Velin (suburb of Lyon), to pay tribute to the victims of the terrible deadly fire that occurred overnight from Thursday to Friday. An investigation was opened by the Lyon public prosecutor’s office for “degradation by fire resulting in death” in order to determine the circumstances and the cause of the fire, which left ten dead, including five children, and 24 injured, including four seriously. The flags were lowered for this moment of meditation on the forecourt of the Town Hall, crowded, despite the biting cold, according to AFP journalists.
The survivors of the fire arrived in a white bus and were cheered by the crowd. “We are here and we will always be there for you,” shouted a resident, while others showed them signs of support.
A chain of solidarity
The public present was very diverse, families, young or older people, with serious faces and many of whom were dressed in black. The mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, Hélène Geoffroy, hailed “the huge chain of solidarity”, with numerous donations, in favor of the survivors, which “gives comfort and support”. “This afternoon (Saturday) we are mourning our dead and we are here to bring comfort and support to the living,” she said, before the crowd observed several minutes of silence. Among the other personalities present were the regional prefect Pascal Mailhos, the mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet, the president of the Metropolis of Lyon Bruno Bernard or the rector of the Academy of Lyon Olivier Dugrip.
The fire occurred at 3 a.m. Friday morning in a seven-storey building, located in a popular district undergoing urban renewal. The fire prompted residents to rush into the void, a woman having even thrown her son from the fourth floor to save his life, before jumping herself from her balcony, according to testimonies collected by AFP. The flames ravaged the apartments, leaving 38 families, or a hundred people, in “urgent need of rehousing”, according to a press release from the Métropole de Lyon.
According to the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, “accommodation solutions were found (Friday) evening, pending the implementation of more lasting solutions in conjunction with housing stakeholders”.