What caused the hotel fire at a Turkish ski resort?

At least 76 people died in a fire at the Grand Kartal hotel early Monday, one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in Turkish history.

Some survivors have said they did not hear any alarm and experts told the BBC they would not have expected so many deaths in a hotel where fire safety systems were working properly.

The 12-story hotel in Turkey’s popular Kartalakaya ski resort hosts thousands of visitors every year, so Turks naturally want to know how such a terrible tragedy could happen at the beginning of the two-week school holidays.

The interior minister said the fire broke out at 03:27 (00:27 GMT) in the restaurant area on the fourth floor and firefighters arrived within 45 minutes.

Some survivors have described smelling smoke for up to an hour.

Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that the hotel had a fire competency certificate “issued by the fire department”.

But this has been challenged by local mayor Tanju Ozcan, who said the fire department has not issued a positive report since 2007.

Some survivors say they heard no alarm, while claims have been made of inadequacies in the hotel’s fire extinguishing systems.

“My wife smelled a fire,” said Atakan Yelkovan, who said he was staying on the third floor of the hotel.

“We went down earlier than others. The alarm did not go off… It took about an hour to an hour and a half for the fire brigade to arrive. Meanwhile, the fourth and fifth floors were burning.” People were screaming on the upper floor.”

Some guests on higher floors tried to escape with their beds and some jumped to their deaths.

Eylam Senturk said the fire alarm did not go off until she left the building. Her husband had to jump off the hotel veranda because of the smoke: “We are very lucky to have survived.”

The BBC has tried to contact the hotel managers regarding these allegations but has not yet received any response.

Nine people, including the hotel owner, have been detained as part of the Turkish investigation.

Hotel managers issued a statement saying they mourn the loss and are cooperating fully with authorities.

In such a large building where fire systems are fully operational, experts say fire detectors are expected to respond to a fire within seconds and send alerts to the fire control dashboard.

“In a good business, there should be someone in charge of this panel 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Kazim Beceren, president of the Turkish Fire Protection and Education Foundation, told the BBC.

The number of deaths is also very high, which raises even more questions.

“Fires will always happen, but we would not expect so many people to die in this type of building,” said Professor Sevket Ozgur Atayilmaz, head of the mechanical engineering department at Yildiz Technical University, who worked on the fire safety plan.

“If the structure is designed correctly for fire, if there are escape routes, and if smoke is properly vented, it is possible to control the fire without loss of life.”

The interior minister said that there were two fire escapes, but there were indications that they were not of good quality.

Erol Persin, an official at the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) in Bolu, said the way the fire spread showed that fire warning, detection and extinguishing systems were not in place.

He said that the building’s exterior wooden facade was supposed to be 100% fire resistant, but it was not.

The head of the Turkish Fire Protection and Education Foundation told the BBC that the size of the fire showed that “the fire system either does not exist or is not designed according to standards”.

At that time 238 people were staying in the Grand Kartal Hotel.

Kazim Beceren said the fire protection systems were designed with the aim of taking three minutes to evacuate each floor – and a facility with more than 200 people could be evacuated in 15 to 30 minutes under ideal conditions.

According to the head of the Turkish Fire Protection and Education Foundation, when an alarm sounds, the person in charge of the fire control dashboard is expected to check the location.

If there is no indication of a false alarm or if a second detector sends an alert, fire alarms usually activate throughout the building.

In a properly installed system, people are directed to the nearest fire exit by announcing them, with flashing lights for the hearing impaired or audible warnings for those who are sleeping.

Since fire can spread very quickly, sprinkler systems are considered extremely important for early stage intervention.

So it is also a backup power source. According to fire safety regulations, signs pointing to emergency exits and lights showing the way to these exits have to work for one to three hours, even if there is a power failure.

The union of engineers and architects in Bolu said in a statement that “an automatic sprinkler system is mandatory” in buildings of this size.

“Photos on the hotel’s website show that the automatic sprinkler system, which was supposed to be installed in 2008, was not installed. Due to this failure, the fire spread rapidly and resulted in casualties.”

BBC Türkiye could not independently confirm the allegations regarding the wooden cladding on the building or the hotel’s fire extinguishing system.

A major question is whether the hotel’s fire system was properly inspected.

Bolu Mayor Tanju Ozcan said the Tourism Ministry was responsible because the hotel was beyond his city limits. Errol Persin agreed.

The mayor said that the last time the municipality of Bolu submitted a report stating that the hotel was fireproof was in 2007, and there had been no such investigation since then.

However, Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that the hotel had a fire competency certificate “issued by the fire department” and that the inspection was their responsibility.

Due to changing laws, there has been a demand to bring even relatively old structures under scrutiny.

“If places with crowded places, such as hotels, residences, nursing homes or kindergartens, do not comply with the current standards, they should stop operating,” says Atayilmaz, a professor at Yildiz Technical University.