A little over a month later, the first conclusions came in concerning the fire in a lodge in Wintzenheim (Haut-Rhin). The administrative investigation showed that there was “a general dysfunction”, declared Friday the Minister of Solidarity Aurore Bergé, who wishes to better control holidays adapted for people with disabilities.
The investigation by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) into the fire of August 9 which cost the lives of ten adults with mild mental disabilities and a companion demonstrated “a general dysfunction”, adapted holidays having “not been sufficiently supervised, standardized and thought through”, commented the minister on France Info, without giving further details.
Following the fire, the government charged Igas with carrying out an administrative investigation, which it promised to make public. Its publication should take place at the beginning of next week, indicated the State Secretariat for Disability, confirming information from Le Monde.
Aurore Bergé plans to sign a circular “next week” in order to ask the administrations to “check all the approvals” that they have issued to the companies and associations organizing these stays. The staff to carry out this control mission will be “doubled” to reach 110 people, or more than one per department, she promised.
“Restore order”
“I want us to have a new control grid by the end of the year” so that a tragedy like that of Wintzenheim “can no longer happen,” she added. “People with disabilities must be able to go on vacation […] but this must obviously be done in conditions of absolute security,” insisted the minister, who wants to “restore order” to adapted holidays.
Only authorized organizations can organize stays for people with disabilities. They have a certain margin of maneuver, under the supervision of the authorities. Stay organizers must have obtained “organized adapted holidays” approval, issued by the prefecture after analysis of their file. Each stay must be declared to the authorities, who can carry out checks. The organizers are responsible for composing the groups of vacationers and defining the supervision arrangements.
The ten adults with mild mental disabilities who died in the fire in Wintzenheim had come on an adapted holiday as part of a stay organized by an association in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) called Oxygène Vacances Adaptées. One of the attendants also died.
In parallel with the Igas investigation, a preliminary investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office for homicides and involuntary injuries “aggravated by the violation of an obligation of safety or prudence provided for by law or regulation”.