Riddes lumberyard fire set by children
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A huge fire that destroyed a lumberyard in the centre of the village of Riddes last weekend was set by five children, police in canton Valais say. The fire late Ssunday 20 May caused heavy damage but no injuries, and the A9 autoroute was closed for more than two hours due to smoke.
The two oldest in the group, both aged 13, have been turned over to juvenile authorities, but the three younger children, ages 6, 7, and 9 have been released because of their age. The group entered the building and lit a fire for fun at about 18:00 say police. They then left and the fire smouldered before it suddenly took off at 21:45 and was noticed. The foehn wind was blowing hard Sunday evening and police evacuated about 100 people whose homes were near the fire, as a precaution.
Riddes fire Sunday night, village centre lumberyard destroyed, no injuries
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A lumberyard in the centre of the small town of Riddes, between Martigny and Sion in canton Valais, went up in flames around 22:00 Sunday night 20 May, causing heavy damage but no injuries.
Police say an investigation has been opened, with no clear cause for the fire at the moment.
The lumberyard was destroyed and wood that was stored nearby was calcified.
Police closed the A9 autoroute until shortly after midnight because of heavy smoke and high winds.
Twelve homes near the fire were evacuated and the commune put up close to 100 people for the night.
Villagers are being told to keep their windows closed Monday because of smoke in the air.
100 neighbours evacuated from Riddes fire as a precaution, with high winds blowing
The forest fire was near the autoroute, next to the 114m Pisse-de-Vache waterfall
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The high winds that have been blowing in canton Valais for the past four days provoked a forest fire in Vernayaz/Miéville Saturday 28 April at 14:40.
Police in Valais say the fire is under control and no homes were touched by it. It started when high winds pushed over a tree and it fell onto an electric power line. Several neighbours noticed the flames and contacted the fire department.
The area, known as Le Bra, was too difficult to reach with vehicles so two helicopters were called in to douse the flames.
About 1,000m2 were burned.
NYON, SWITZERLAND – A blaze that started shortly after 16:00 Wednesday 22 February at route de Divonne 47 in Nyon was not yet under control Wednesday evening. Five people were taken in by town authorities after a fifth floor apartment in the seven-storey building caught fire. There were no injuries.
Five fire trucks and 35 firefighters were called to the scene. The building is near the Nyon hospital
The apartment that caught fire was partially destroyed and those directly above and below suffered damage, but at 19:00 authorities said the blaze had flared up again, moving through the building’s plumbing system.
The apartment where the fire began housed a 70-year-old woman and he 37-year-old daughter. Police are investigating the cause.
Fire destroys storage building in Evouettes, despite cold and snow
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A storage building burned to the ground in cold, snowy Evouettes, canton Valais, 15 February despite efforts by workers to put the blaze out immediately and the work of 35 firefighters who came to the scene.
One of the men working in the hangar of the landscaping business noticed flames at the back of the building at 13:30 and he attempted to put them out while a colleague phoned the fire department.
No one was injured and police are investigating the cause of the fire.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Reports vary from 100 to more than 400 people dead in what is being called Latin America’s worst ever prison fire, in Comayagua, Honduras, 75 km north of the capital Tegucigalpa. The over-crowded prison that holds 800 caught fire late Teusday 14 February and some of the inmates managed to escape, but the bodies of the victims are so charred, say authorities, that they will have to use dental records to identify people.
Reutersreports that prisons in Honduras, the country with the world’s highest murder rate, are often the scene of riots and gang fights, but it’s unclear if the fire was started because of violence. The BBC quotes Comayagua firefighters’ spokesman Josue Garcia, who “said there were ‘hellish’ scenes at the prison and that desperate inmates had rioted in a bid to escape the flames. ‘We couldn’t get them out because we didn’t have the keys and couldn’t find the guards who had them,’ he said.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A fire that broke out in an apartment building in the Jonction quarter of Geneva at 03:55 Monday sent 100 people into the streets and ultimately destroyed the building. Firefighters spent seven hours battling the blaze at the intersection of Avenue de la Jonction Rue du Quartier-Neuf, with 110 firefighters and 26 vehicles.
The cause is not known but firefighters found heating oil in the caves of the building, which did not have central heating.
Some of those evacuated were from neighbouring buildings. The facade of the burned building was not heavily damaged, but the fire quickly spread thanks to the heating oil, wooden beams and older ventilating system.
Firefighters arrived within five minutes of the call but at 05:30 the fire suddenly spread rapidly and a first neighbouring building was evacuated, using ladders. Two hours later it spread again and another neighbouring building was evacuated.
Police say six people were taken to hospital to be checked for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters, with a water shortage and severe cold and heavy snow, couldn't save the vacation chalet in Anzere
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Six people were evacuated from a vacation chalet in Anzere, canton Valais at 03:40 Monday 13 February, after they alerted the fire department that they smelled smoke.
A woman from the Jura family of six was taken to Sion hospital to be checked for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters had trouble mastering the blaze due to a shortage of water and the sub-zero temperatures.
The house was destroyed by the fire.
Electric lights on Christmas trees are safer than candles, especially as the trees begin to dry out (new LED lights use far less electricity)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Two people, ages 57 and 65, suffered from shock and light burns Wednesday 4 January when their Christmas tree caught fire in their apartment in Bex.
Vaud police did not provide details but say the fire was caused by negligence.
Le Matin (Fr) noted in an article Wednesday that fires are frequently sparked by Christmas trees at the end of the holiday season and this year is no exception: they caused three fires last Thursday alone in three cantons.
A fire linked to candles on a Christmas tree in Grand-Saconnex in Geneva 27 December completely destroyed an apartment and two others in canton Bern Saturday caused several thousand francs in damage, according to the Swiss centre for fire prevention.
Cigarette on fifth floor suspected
Update 23:00 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A patient who suffered burns from a fire that broke out in the psychiatric unit on the fifth floor of the HUG university hospitals in Geneva died Tuesday 3 January, and a member of staff remains in serious condition from smoke inhalation. The patient was a woman in her 50s.
A cigarette is suspected as the source of the fire, with one found near the head of the bed, along with a packet of them. Police are investigating if a lapse in security is involved, since smoking is banned in the hospital.
The fire broke out shortly before midnight Monday and firefighters, who were at the scene within four minutes, had the fire under control within a half hour, but 20 people, had to be treated for smoke inhalation.
The hospital’s emergency plan was kept active for three hours, with several patients from lower floors moved to a makeshift treatment centre on the ground floor as a precaution.
The room of the patient who was injured was completely destroyed by the fire and an adjoining room was badly damaged.
Geneva police say the cause of the fire is not yet known and an investigation has been opened, but TSR reports that a cigarette is suspected of starting the blaze.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – At least 73 people have died in a hospital fire in south Kolcata (Calcutta), India, according to initial reports from India’s media, and 75 people were rescued. The fire at Amri Hospital broke out in the early hours of the morning Friday 9 December. The fire department says, according to the Times of India, that it will sue the hospital for not having adequate equipment or a rapid evacuation plan. The seven-storey building was thick with smoke hours after the fire started.
Links to other sites: Reuters, Times of India
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A fire that Hong Kong officials say broke out at a hawker’s stall at the Ladies’ Market in the city’s Mong Kok district in Kowloon killed 9 people and left 30 injured, 4 of them critically. The market, in an area of narrow lanes and colourful buildings and vendors, is popular with tourists. The blaze caught a highrise residential building and filled the area with thick smoke.
The cause of the mid-afternoon fire is not yet known, but CNN reports that “last year, 50 stalls burned to the ground in the same street, injuring six people.” RTHK local radio cites firemen as saying it may have been caused by arson.
Links to other sites: Herald Sun/AFP, New Zealand, AP video (raw footage)
17-year-old on two-night binge had no reason for doing it, he says
Altar burned in village church after car vandalism: youth confesses to drunken spree
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 17-year-old who got drunk and damaged 23 cars one night, then burned the inside of a church in Châble the next told police he didn’t do it for any particular reason. He turned himself in Monday and admitted to the crimes.
Police turned him over to juvenile authorities who are detaining him.
The fire destroyed the altar and caused extensive smoke damage to the church. It was set by the youth the day after he and an old school friend from Fribourg went on a rampage and vandalized 23 cars. The second youth was being sought by police late Monday.
The fire occurred Saturday night 19 November about 23:00. The prayer books inside the church were piled on the altar and then lit.
The vandalism to cars Friday night involved petty damages such as broken side-view mirrors and antennas.
Martigny fire, Sunday night
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police in Martigny set up detours Sunday night 6 November after a fire broke out in a storage area at 9 Route du Levant 9.
The cause of the blaze, which was quickly brought under control by firefighters from four communes. is under investigation.
The fire comes just a week after a similar fire that destroyed a storage area in nearby St Maurice.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A petrol pipeline burst in Nairobi, Kenya’s poor and heavily populated Embakasi area, and the fire that spread rapidly burned to death more than 100 people, with numbers continuing to rise. Homes were built up against the pipeline, according to the Guardian. The pipeline runs between the city centre and the airport in the Sinai slum.
The fire appears to have started when a fuel tank spilled petrol into an open sewer and, as people tried to scoop up the petrol, someone threw a cigarette into the sewer, which then caught fire. The area is filled with corrugated houses packed tightly together.
Links to other sites: Evening Standard, Guardian
Grens, Vaud, near Nyon (Google map)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A huge and costly fire in Grens, Vaud Saturday 20 August, at 15:00, was set off by three children from a Jura family, playing with lighters and straw, say Vaud police.
The parents noticed that the fire originated in an area where their children, ages 8, 9 and 12, had been playing, and when the family discussed it the children admitted to finding a box of lighters at the festivities to inaugurate the “ultra-modern” barn that would have housed 160 animals next week.
They then played with the lighters and some of the straw in the barn, which housed more than 800 bales of hay and straw.
The children, who were attending the festivities with their parents, were interviewed by the police and the file is now in the hands of the Juvenile Police Department.
Italian dies on Matterhorn late Sunday afternoon
Update 11:50 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The past four days have taken a high toll in deaths and injuries in Switzerland: a well-known wine writer was murdered by her former companion who then committed suicide early Friday, three mountain climbers lost their lives in falls and four youths on a joyride are in serious condition after the car they stole rolled several times.
Murder victim and ex known in food and wine circles
Barbara Dittus-Meier, 47, former editor of Vinum, the European wine magazine, and a widely respected wine authority in Switzerland, was shot at her home shortly after midnight Friday in Baden, not far from Zurich, by her ex-companion, Rui A, a Portuguese chef and owner of the Pergola restaurant in Bad Zurzach, 43. He then turned the gun on himself. Neighbours alerted the police after hearing several shots. The three daughters of Dituss-Meier, ages 14 to 20, were asleep at the time of the deaths, but were awakened by the shots and they discovered the bodies. (more on editor Ellen Wallace’s wine blog, Among the Vines).
Argovian police had previously received calls for domestic violence; the couple had been together for several years but had recently split up.
Youths steal car, lose control and flip it
Fourth local youths stole a car in Stalenried in canton Valais in the early hours of Sunday 21 August, around 02:00, and headed on the cantonal road for Gspon when the driver lost control of the car on a bend.
It rolled over several times, 150 metres down a sloping pasture, before coming to a stop. All four were taken to hospital with serious injuries: two were flown to the Hopital de l’Ile in Bern and two others were taken by ambulance to Visp.
They are 18, 16, 14 and 13 years old.
Fire destroys new barn at its inauguration
A new building described by canton Vaud police as an “ultra-modern” barn that was to house 160 animals starting next week in Grens, Vaud, caught fire and was destroyed Saturday afternoon at 15:00 during its inauguration.
Several dozen people and about 15 animals were there to celebrate the completion of the barn when it caught fire, for reasons that are not yet known. The building housed more than 800 large rolls of hay and straw, and it went up in flames quickly. The animals were taken to safety and no one was injured. The 160 animals scheduled to winter there are currently up in the Copettes alpage near Givrins.
Separate accidents kill 3 in Swiss Alps
An Italian died on the east face of the Matterhorn at 17:30 Sunday and two climbers died in separate accidents 19 and 20 August, bringing to four the number of people who died in one week while walking or climbing in canton Valais.
Police say the Italian was one of a group of five climbing the Matterhorn/Cervin Sunday 21 August when he fell 500 metres to his death on the east face of the mountain, shortly before the Solvay hut, at 4,030 metres. The group was not roped together. Police are trying to formally identify the climber.
A 43-year-old German man who was climbing the Lagginhorn mountain on his own 19 August fell 50 metres to his death, at 3,600 metres. His family became worried when he hadn’t returned home by 20:30 and they called police. A helicopter search failed to find him during the night but found his body when the search was taken up again Saturday morning.
Two Austrian climbers headed up the south face of the Dent Blanche Saturday morning. As they started down, on the south peak at 4,000 metres, at 09:30, one of them, a 27-year-old man, fell 400 metres to his death, for reasons that are not clear.
A 15-year-old Mauritian tourist lost his life earlier in the week while hiking near Martigny-La Combe.
Roland Petit, 2009
ZURICH / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two notable foreigners have died in Switzerland. Roland Petit, notable French choreographer whose erotic “Carmen” in 1949 had a major impact on the ballet world, died Sunday 10 July, age 87, in Geneva, where he had lived for more than 10 years according to the New York Times. The arts section of the paper carries a lengthy obituary.
The BBC reports that he is credited with having created more than 100 ballets in his career. He is survived by his wife, the dancer Zizi Jeannemaire, who played his Carmen, and their daughter, Valentine Petit.
Sri Lankan political candidate and Swiss citizen Aminath ‘Ainthu’ Arif died in hospital in Zurich shortly before she was scheduled to have a major skin grafting surgery, after being anesthetized and treated for a month in Sri Lanka following a barbecue fire. The fire broke out at her home in Machangoalhi Meraanage in Sri Lanka.
A man also died of his injuries from the fire and a third victim is being treated in Sri Lanka.
She is survived by three children, reports Haveeru.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A huge blast at a Cyprus munitions dump at a naval base on the south of the island at 06:00 (local time) Monday 11 July killed at least 8 people. Some reports say 12 people have died and at least 38 were injured. It is being treated for now as an accident, reports the BBC, whose service to the Middle East was knocked out by major electricity cuts linked to the blast.
The explosion reportedly occurred after two containers of stored arms caught fire. The fire then spread to a nearby power plant, the country’s largest. Reuters reports that doors and windows were blown out at a resort 3km away.
Italian side of the Simplon pass, March 2011
Updae 19:00 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in canton Valais re-opened the Simplon road pass between Italy and Switzerland Friday morning after closing it for more than 24 hours following a fire in the Simplon rail tunnel. The fire broke out in a freight train early Thursday shortly after the train left Iselle, in Italy, heading for Switzerland. There were no injuries, but as of Friday afternoon smoke was still a problem in the tunnel and trains are being rerouted until at least Saturday noon.
The CFF rail companies has announced the following changes, until further notice:
Passengers from Basel, Geneva and Lausanne heading for Milan: take another route
Passengers travelling from Geneva / Lausanne to Milan’s Central station should take the EuroCity trains (EC) Genève – Lausanne – Milano Centrale and change in Brig + Domodossola. The CFF asks passengers to allow for a longer travelling time.
Passengers travelling from Basel SBB / Olten / Bern to Milano Centrale or vice versa should travel via Luzern / Zürich HB – Chiasso and allow for a longer travelling time.
Hotline
The CFF rail company hotline for updates, from inside Switzerland: 0800 99 66 33.
Unoccupied centre used by school and camp groups totally destroyed by night fire, Binn, Valais
SION, SWITZERLAND – A fire that broke out in an unoccupied vacation centre used by groups has completely destroyed the building, in Binn, Goms Valley in canton Valais.
The fire was reported to police shortly after 03:00 Friday morning 10 June and despite firefighters arriving quickly on the scene the fire spread throughout the building and was not brought under control before the blaze destroyed it. Forty-three firefighters from Binn, Ernen and Fiesch were called to the fire.
The area around Binn is popular with hikers and people looking for precious minerals and stones.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Simplon pass is closed to cars between Gondo, in Switzerland and Iselle in Italy due to heavy smoke from a fire in the train tunnel. Traffic is being re-routed via the St Bernard and Gotthard passes.
A freight train that left Italy at 06:00 Thursday morning 9 June caught fire two to three kilometres after leaving Iselle, heading towards Switzerland. The fire quickly spread to nine other freight cars and by 16:40 Thursday afternoon the fire was still not under control. Special tunnel firefighting teams, some 30 men, were dispatched from Brig, Visp, Rarogne, Gampel and Loetschenthal.
The CFF rail company has sent three special fire extinction trains to help fight the blaze.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – China’s Xinhua news agency is reporting, based on an eyewitness report, that a major fire has broken out in the Qaddafi compound in Tripoli, without further details. The agency’s reporter in Tripoli earlier reported that several major explosions rocked the city Tuesday afternoon 7 June after Nato warplanes flew over the city.
Nato 6 June said that early in the day “aircraft struck a command and control target in Tripoli, specifically a key Qadhafi regime intelligence headquarters building.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police in cantons Vaud and Valais were kept busy Monday, with a French driver speeding at 145kph on the Saint Bernard pass road and an ambulance catching fire on the A9 autoroute, forcing its closure in both directions between 10:00 and noon.
Valais police say they stopped the 33-year-old driver at 04:40 Monday morning, driving from Sembrancher in the direction of Martigny, on the Route du Saint Bernard. He was going 145kph in an 80kph zone. The man lives in the region; his license was confiscated and he was reported to the Swiss highway authority as well as to the public prosecutor. A crash nearby, between Bovernier and Sembrancher, took the life of a 17-year-old last week and injured two others.
Ambulance flames caused by lifesaving oxygen tank
Industrial blaze under investigation, no injuries
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thirteen vehicles and 36 firefighters were called to the scene in the early hours of Thursday 5 May in Bussigny when an industrial waste depot caught fire. The building at 10, Route du Crissier was badly damaged, as was a digger parked at the scene, but canton Vaud police say there were no injuries.
A passerby who noticed flames at 01:00 called 118 to alert the fire department.
The cause of the fire, not far from the autoroute, is under investigation.
First floor tenant, “under the influence”, may have caused the fire through negligence
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A fire in Lucens that killed one young woman and injured three others may have been caused by negligence on the part of a tenant on the first floor, police in canton Vaud say.
The victim of the fire in the old town of Lucens, near Moudon, 29 April has been identified as the 22-year-old tenant of one of four apartments that caught fire in the early hours. The young woman was Swiss.
Three other people were injured, including two taken to hospital. The tenant of the first floor apartment, a 25-year-old Romanian, appeared to hospital staff to be under the influence of alcohol, according to police. An investigation into the cause of the blaze has been opened.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A fire that broke out shortly after 01:00 Thursday morning 28 April in Lucens, near Moudon, has killed one person and sent two others to hospital with serious smoke inhalation and fractures suffered when they jumped out windows to escape the fire.
The cause of the blaze, in a four-storey apartment building in the old town of Lucens, quickly spread, and several buildings wer destroyed before the fire was brought under control about 04:00. Twenty-five people were given shelter for the night by the local civil protection group.
The fire was fought by 66 firefighters, with 12 vehicles involved.
Tuesday’s winds kept fire alive overnight
Firefighters in Visp use the local football field to load firefighting supplies Tuesday 26 April
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The skies in canton Valais are noisy with helicopters early Wednesday morning as firefighters resume their work to douse a forest fire in Visp/Viège, and the acrid smell of smoke hangs in the air even 20km away in Sierre. The high winds of Tuesday have fortunately died down, but a veil of smoke hangs over a large stretch of the Rhone river valley.
Two army helicopters worked through the night, putting out small fires after flames were doused Tuesday. Other helicopters are busy throughout the region, picking up supplies from several communes in Valais in a well-coordinated fight against the fire.
Fire started in body shop
The fire started in a body shop in Visp/Viège in canton Valais Tuesday 26 April.
It quickly spread to the nearby wooded hillside during the afternoon, thanks to high winds.
Police in the cantonal capital, Sion, say the fire started about 15:30 and the garage was completely destroyed; the cause of the fire is not known. No one was injured by the blaze and homes in the area are not at risk.
A gray veil of smoke hangs over the Rhone river valley (Visp is slightly above the centre of the image) Wednesday morning, in contrast to the blue skies above and clear view Tuesday before the fire (click on image to view larger)
The fire rapidly ran up the hillside, despite firefighters arriving quickly, and by late Tuesday night 100 hectares of hillside forest had been burned. High winds and the inaccessibility on foot of most of the terrain made the fire extremely difficult to douse, say police.
The blaze was fought yesterday until 21:00 by 350 firefighters from several local communities, working with 10 helicopters from Air Zermatt (5), Air Glacier (2), Eagle (Super Puma) and the Swiss Army (2 Super Pumas). Other helicopters were put on standby.
Autoroute now open again
The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain was reopened in the afternoon of Tuesday 19 April after firefighters extinguished a fire started by a suspected arsonist on Tuesday morning. Four workers were transported to hospitals to be treated for smoke inhalation and 1,500 tourists were evacuated from the Unesco World Heritage Site.
Tuesday morning, two tourists saw smoke coming from the sacristy and alerted a worker to the fire. Another group of tourists and workers detained the suspected arsonist in the crypt until he was arrested, reports El País.
“[The suspect] appears to be a disturbed man of around 55 who was found with several lighters in his pocket,” says Joan Rigol, Sagrada Familia Foundation president.
The Gaudi masterpiece that attracts more than 2 million visitors every year to Spain’s second-largest city did not suffer any damage, but many furnishings on the inside were burned.
Israeli tank fire injured five people when a house in Gaza was hit, medics have told Reuters. The injuries were not confirmed by Israel, but if the information is accurate, its brings to 24 the number of people wounded in Gaza since Monday 21 March. Israel says it responded with air attacks after rocket and mortar fire from an area controlled by Hamas. Hamas, for its part, claimed responsibility for a dozen attacks on Israel over the weekend.
France has called on the two parties to use restraint.
The New York Times, which generally gives generous space to Israeli-Gaza conflict news, barely found room on its online “front” page for the story, in the face of continuing news from Libya and Japan.
Links to other sites: Jerusalem Post, New York Times, Reuters
