The Salinières car park was set on fire on May 18, 2019. -

E.Provenzano / 20 Minutes

  • An arson attack ravaged the underground car park at Les Salinières in the spring of 2019.

  • The park was badly damaged by the fire and several hundred vehicles were charred.

  • After heavy work, which amounts to ten million euros covered by insurance, the car park should reopen its doors on October 19.

For eighteen hours, on May 18, 2019, the flames ravaged the beams, the floors and a majority of the 370 vehicles parked in the Salinières car park.

After nearly a year and a half of work at a cost of ten million euros, the car park is ready to reopen its doors.

The insurance companies fully supported the incident.

Xavier Heulin, managing director of Transdev, manager of the car park, announced on Tuesday that he "hopes for an opening to the public on October 19, after a visit from the security commission next week".

An “unprecedented” disaster

In addition to the considerable damage, the incident had interrupted the circulation of line C of the tram which passes above the parking lot.

It will be necessary to wait until the end of September for it to be put back into service after an operation to consolidate the structure.

"The firefighters told us that this type of disaster in France in a parking lot, it was unprecedented," recalls Pierre Simonnet Deputy Managing Director at Verdi Engineering, who designed the parking lot in 2002. Levels -2 and -3 were the most degraded, the -4 was rather spared and the -5 level was flooded by the fire extinguishing water.

It was first necessary to secure the parking lot, to allow the forensic science to launch their investigations while leaving the premises intact, as much as possible.

She visited the site in mid-July 2019. “After two months, two-thirds of the parking lot was shored up.

The concrete parts were cleaned out and the carcasses evacuated, ”says Pierre Simonnet.

The Freyssinet company intervened to reinforce the structures and it was Eiffage which carried out the repairs.

Emphasis on fire safety

Xavier Heulin reminds us, there was no security problem in the parking lot before the fire, of criminal origin.

The safety commission had also just passed shortly before the incident and had not reported any breaches.

However, the work provided an opportunity to go beyond the standards.

A sprinkler system, an automatic water extinguishing system, has been installed throughout the car park.

Emergency exits have also been improved.

Customers who find themselves trapped in the basement could exit directly through a tunnel without having to reenter the parking lot.

Sprinkling is an automatic water extinguishing system.

- E.Provenzano / 20 Minutes

"The firefighters intervened after nine minutes, which is not much," says Xavier Heulin.

If this were to happen again, it would be better circumscribed but zero risk does not exist in our businesses.

“Four people were arrested as part of the investigation which favors the criminal track.

They should be judged in the coming months.

Bordeaux

Bordeaux: A look back at four months of hardship (and system D) with line C users

Miscellaneous

Bordeaux: "They set the trunk of a car on fire with a lighter ...", four people arrested after the violent fire in the Salinières car park

  • Aquitaine

  • Criminal fire

  • Car park

  • Fire