2021 Kharkiv fire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
_0_-_02.jpg)
_-_02.jpg) | |
| Date | 21 January 2021 |
|---|---|
| Location | Kharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine |
| Coordinates | 49°59′43″N 36°09′48″E / 49.995160406537394°N 36.16325548929106°E |
| Deaths | 15 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 11 |
_0_-_06.jpg)
On 21 January 2021, a fire broke out at an unregistered nursing home in Kharkiv, Ukraine.[1] The fire killed 15 people and injured 11 others.[2] Nine people were rescued and sent to the hospital.[3]
According to residents of nearby houses, the Golden Time (Ukrainian: Золотий час, romanized: Zolotyi chas) nursing home had operated for about a year at the time of the fire. The building formerly was a drug rehabilitation centre, then it was rented by Baptists and then a porn studio.[4][5] The nursing home advertised five meals a day, caregivers, placement in 1-5 person wards, and monthly analysis.[6] A daughter of one of the victims said that she paid ₴6,500 monthly for the care of her father with dementia.[7] The nursing home housed terminally ill patients.[8]
Fire
The fire was declared an oblast-level emergency.[9]
Neighbours rushed to the burning building to save trapped residents after the noticed the smoke.[10]
According to Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova, the fire was caused by carelessness with electrical heaters.[11] Electric heaters are considered unsafe in Kharkiv due to the inadequate design of electrical infrastructure in that area.
The nursing home had wooden floors and no fire-fighting mechanisms, which contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.[12] A relative of one of the victims said that there was no fire extinguisher in the ground floor lobby, but she did not see the heaters that caused the fire.[13] The prosecutor, Oleksandr Dobroskok, said that there were no fire extinguishers in the building.[14]
The fifteen people that died had apparently been trapped on the second floor, where there were bars on the windows.[15] The victims were suffocated by the smoke.[16] The house was heavily damaged, with much of the second floor apparently gutted.[17] According to Viktor Starovir, one of the survivors, the roof was on fire and some people had to be carried out of the burning building.[18]
