Serious Hotel Fire in Paris!
 

Yahoo just reported that there was a serious fire during the night at the Paris-Opera Hotel in Paris which they said is close to the Galaries Lafayette and the Primtemps Stores.

Twelve people have died, ten are seriously hurt and fifty more are slightly hurt.

I sure hope noone here has loved ones that were staying at this hotel.

What a terrible tragedy. I did not see anything on the CNN website a few minutes ago. Evidently it just happened about an hour ago or so.

It's just now in the breaking news section of Le Monde. I echo your sentiment and hope all here remain unscathed.

Oh how sad.

This is horrible! I'm so sorry for both the living and the dead.

I often have worried that fire safety in European hotels is not up to American standards. On another thread a while back, someone suggested that you should bring your own portable smoke detector. I wonder if that would have helped in this case, though.

I am sad and concerned for possible "fodorites" there! I will be in Paris in about a month and remember someone mentioning the Paris Opera Hotel in one of the discussions.

I don't know WillTravel but I understand your concern sometimes when in European hotels. My DH had them too (mostly I think because a friend of his burned to death in a hotel in LA when he was a young man). That and our being in the insurance business and always hearing the most terrible stories. Makes on very conscience of safety etc.

I just checked cnn.com and they say that the fire is still burning and sounds like people are or were trapped inside. People jumped from the windows of the 6 floor hotel. It is in the 9th district. They said that the close by Galaries Lafayette (sp?) is being used as a makeshift hospital.
Children were in the hotel too. How very very terrible and sad.

Was going to post but see someone has already posted it. Here is the link if anyone needs it:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe...ire/index.html

I can only grieve.
Awful.
Must have been no sprinkler system.

bob_brown, I have been wondering the last few minutes if there is are government regulations in Europe as we have in the US regarding fire sprinklers. I have never noticed whether I have seen any in hotels or not. Does anyone know? It sure sounds like there wasn't in this hotel.
A story that gives one the chills.

From MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7508682/
"There was only one staircase and the fire broke out on the lower floors."

So they really had no chance, and the article also mentions the possibility of more dead on the upper floors.

I was probably mistaken regarding mentions to the Paris-Opera Hotel here. BBC News affirms that this was a 'residence' Hotel "used to put up people waiting to be housed."

The hotel does have positive reviews on TripAdvisor, though, so if there has been a change, it must be recent:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

So ironic to read those reviews and realize that the most important issue never occurs to many - how to exit in a fire.

Actually I don't think it's that Best Western. So ignore my previous URL.

Looking at pagesjaunes.fr, I think it's this one:
Hôtel Paris Opéra
76 r Provence 75009

MSN said the hotel had tourist and childen. I think it was Yahoo that said it was in the 9th district. In any case it is awful.

If anyone thinks they might know this hotel cnn.com has a photo of it on their webpage. It evidently is a hotel as the article said that Canadians and Australians were among the hotel guests.

Evidently the blaze is still burning and people are still trapped inside.

How absolutely horrible!

I also responded to another thread about this but very, very sad to hear. Seems like it's a one star hotel that had tourists mostly from Africa although there were some Canadians and Australians. What a horrible thing to happen.

Accoding to Yahoo France Info, the address of the hotel is as WillTravle's last post says (Rue de Provence 76, 9th arr.) and is situated just behind Les Galeries Lafayette. It also says the victims include many Americans and Africans.

According to CNN it is in the 9th and when I looked at the news clip I could see a Best Western sign. Is it the Best Western Lorette Opera? Also, apparently the temporary residents were housed only on the top floor, the rest being tourists.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/inte...otel-Fire.html

"Another spokesman, Christophe Varennes, said the building's fire safety measures had been checked as recently as a month ago."

How safe could it be with only one staircase, though?