Thionville. Building “abandoned” after fire, angry tenants

The family was at the table when a neighbor banged on their door to announce the danger. On Sunday August 22, around noon, a fire broke out in the entrance hall of tower 14, Prés Saint-Pierre loop in Thionville. Amandine, Martial and their 11-year-old daughter live on the 7th floor. Unaware of the extent of the disaster, they take the stairwell with their dog. “There was too much smoke, we had to retrace our steps,” Amandine remembers. The mother goes through the door of her F3 and collapses. “I had an anxiety attack, I could already see the tower collapsing,” she breathes. Once the fire was under control, the inhabitants were evacuated by the emergency services, the time to secure the place. “There were the police, several fire trucks …”, exclaims Amandine. The entrance has long remained as it is, covered with soot, impregnated with a pungent odor. According to the first elements of the investigation, the fire started a mattress stored in the entrance, the cleaning work did not start until three weeks later. And tenants continue to live with the scars of the disaster. A front door open to the four winds, torn wall tiles, melted electrical conduits, cables hung in a vacuum, destroyed light fixtures, indelible black marks from floor to ceiling, on the walls and even the labels of the boxes to letters.

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Growls in the floors

Stéphanie lives alone with her two children on the 6th floor. She no longer has internet, no TV, like a whole part of the building a priori. The troubleshooting solution offered by its operator does not work well. She recalls the repeated breakdowns of the elevator and the lack of lighting on the stairs for several days after the fire.Angèle has lived in an apartment on the 3rd floor of the tower for 32 years. The septuagenarian, in fragile health, holds her pretty interior, tries to contain the signs of wear. But she observes her building deteriorate over time. The fire that ravaged the entrance last August is not helping. On the contrary, it weighs down the angry inhabitants. “No matter how much we ask, we have no explanation, nothing is moving,” complains Angèle. Because beyond the fear, the dirt, the damage left by the fire, several tenants of these social housing units describe poorly maintained outbuildings, dilapidated interiors, inefficient ventilation, visible mold, observed for example in the living room. and the rooms at Amandine et Martial’s, installed on the 7th floor since 2008. “It’s the amount of rent that holds us back”, concedes Martial, father of a family, employed in the hotel industry in Luxembourg. Her neighbor Angèle, 75, also feels trapped. “I’m single and old, with a little pension, where do you want me to go?” “

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