What happened. The bed on fire, the fire system blocked

“Let’s go with oxygen. Let’s go!” Amid the roar of the sirens, the cry of a doctor from 118 rises: “Guys, there are two detainees we are resuscitating.” The radios do not stop shouting. The firefighters come out dragging their arms the wounded use stretchers, wheelchairs, sheets. With axes they break the double glazing of the closed windows. They don’t have handles because they are in the area for dementia patients. But they become a trap. “The worst night of my life “, repeats the RSA vigilante with a cigarette in his mouth in front of a carpet of glass and rubble. The managers of the cooperative “Proges”, which manages the structure on behalf of the Municipality, immediately drag him away.
The smoke immediately engulfs the first-floor hallways, robbing the oxygen, suffocating the breath. Six die: Nadia Rossi, 69 years old two weeks ago; Laura Blasek, Roman, 86 years old; Anna Garzia, 85, Loredana Labate, 84, Paola Castoldi, 75 and the only man, Mikhail Duci, 73, born in Egypt. All the guests of the RSA “Casa per coniugi” in via dei Cinquecento, in Corvetto.
The locked floor
Here in the first wave of Covid there were more than fifty victims and uncontrolled outbreaks. Now it is the fire that causes the massacre. With the complicity of man: because the smoke detection system in the rooms has been out of service for more than a year and has been replaced by a “dynamic control” by a fire extinguisher. All permitted by law while waiting for the Municipality, owner of the structure, to start the works after the bidding. A procedure that, however, was not enough to prevent the flames. Those that open in room 605 on the first floor that housed Nadia Rossi and Laura Blasek. Both had disabling pathologies. They were killed by fire and heat. Their bodies were extracted when it was already morning. The rest died from the smoke that invaded the halls of the RSA. While a 62-year-old man fights for his life at the Polyclinic in desperate conditions. In total there are 81 injured: 14 are seriously injured spread over fifteen hospitals in half of Lombardy.
The trigger
The flames started in room 605 but did not spread to other areas of the facility. It is not an accidental cause. It seems that it all started with a cigarette smoked by the 69-year-old man. Then the flames slowly engulfed mattresses and blankets, releasing thick, suffocating smoke. Even an oxygen tank that explodes and the gas that acts as an “accelerator” to the fire and engulfs almost everything. Later, a witness told police that he heard a loud bang before noticing the smoke.
The alarm
La Signora Laura is in bed next to her, she wakes up and realizes everything. It’s a dramatic few seconds. She is sick in bed and despite her 86 years she desperately manages to reach the phone. She picks up the receiver and connects to the front desk: “Help.” Then nothing else. The first call to the single emergency number is made from the reception. It is 01.18. The caretaker talks about a fire in the building, his voice is excited. The fire extinguishing technician is notified, but has not noticed anything. At that time, in addition to the caretaker, there are six operators: five Oss and one nurse. How many has the health management provided for the coverage of night shifts to care for 173 patients distributed over three floors. From the outside there are no flames or smoke. Only a glow can be seen from the first floor windows. But the air smells of burning plastic and wires, it tightens my throat. The stairs are filling with smoke.
The first intervention
At 01.26 -eight minutes later- the first fire brigade arrives. The piazzale Cuoco barracks are only two and a half kilometers away. It’s lucky because the death toll could have been even higher. The firefighters go up with respirators but also without them, because you have to do it quickly, there is an entire floor to save. The fire in 605 is put out in less than a few minutes. The two women are now defenseless. The other victims die suffocated by the smoke, in the rooms and corridors. Via dei Cinquecento and the entire Corvetto are full of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. More than a hundred people will be evacuated.
neighbors on the street
“I saw the old people in the windows, the rooms full of smoke with rags on their faces, waiting for someone to come and save them,” says Mrs. Lucía Guaragni, who lives in the opposite building. People from social housing go out into the street, carrying water and blankets. Ambulances rush to hospitals, non-stop. ATM buses are also called in to transport displaced persons to other RSAs. At the corner of the street it was decided to create a protected outdoor space: a long row of wheelchairs and chairs taken from the refectory. The evacuated elders gather. The count of wounded begins and structures throughout the province are alerted.
first investigations
There is the early morning sun, however, when the investigation by the investigators begins at half past five. The first firefighters who intervened speak of a possible short circuit. “The flames affected only one room,” says the mayor Beppe Sala, who arrives in via dei Cinquecento at seven. An hour later it was the turn of the prosecutor Marcello Viola with the assistant Tiziana Siciliano who coordinates the health protection department: «We exclude fraud. But it will take time to understand what happened.
photo saves
The first evidence from the Milan fire brigade, led by Commander Nicola Micele, shows that the fire spread from one of the two beds. One is like a smoothie. The other almost intact. How only a wooden nightstand gets damaged. Above is a photo of Padre Pio, intact. The trail of the cigarette seems more and more concrete. The prosecution has opened a file for multiple homicide, for now without suspects. In the next few days, the names of the RSA managers, the fire technician and the personnel on duty that night could be registered. In the end it was decided to evacuate the entire structure: too many risks with the fire system out of service.