Incredible truth about fire escapes revealed: Announced for the first time

It was observed that the fire escapes of the Grand Kartal Hotel in Bolu Kartalkaya were located inside the building, while the fire escapes of the other 4 hotels in the region were located outside the buildings.

Emergency Management and Occupational Safety Expert Hacı Latif İşcen stated, "The biggest blunder is that the fire escapes were covered with carpets. There were flames in the areas that were supposed to be used for evacuation. People could not escape the fire."

78 people lost their lives in the fire that broke out at the Grand Kartal Hotel, located at the Kartalkaya Ski Center on the summit of the Köroğlu Mountains at an altitude of 2200 meters.

In Kartalkaya, where there are 5 hotels, it was observed that the fire escapes of 4 hotels were outside the buildings and made of metal. It was observed that the fire escape of the Grand Kartal Hotel, where the disaster occurred, was inside the building.

"PEOPLE COULD NOT ESCAPE THE FIRE"

Pointing out that the hotel's fire escape was covered with carpets, Emergency Management and Occupational Safety Expert Hacı Latif İşcen said, "There must be a fire extinguishing system in every area over 2 thousand square meters.

Under normal conditions, this hotel should have one. Is it there? Unfortunately, it is not. That is the reason why the fire grew and caused such a great loss of life. There should be systems in the corridors between existing doors to prevent the passage of smoke.

If the fire escapes had been separated, isolated, had air compartments, and had doors that we call escape tunnels, people would have gone down using safe fire escapes without being exposed to smoke. If all these things I described had been in place, there would have been no loss of life at all. The biggest blunder is that the fire escapes were covered with carpets. There were flames in the areas that were supposed to be used for evacuation. People could not escape the fire. They were forced to head toward the windows. The doors are required to be fire-resistant for 60 degrees. We watched this situation in despair," he said.

The two fire escapes inside the Grand Kartal Hotel were captured on a mobile phone camera. In one of the two different images taken during the fire, it was seen that the fire escapes were covered with smoke, and in the other, they were engulfed in flames. The carpets on the hotel's fire escapes were also visible in the footage recorded during the fire.