1991 for Leningrad turned out to be not entirely successful. On January 11, a flood occurred in the city, and the Neva that overflowed the shores caused great material losses. The capital did not have time to survive the water element, as another incident happened - the largest hotel burned down. It was a hotel "Leningrad". The 1991 fire claimed the lives of many people.
Were the fire safety standards observed during the construction of the hotel building?
The Leningrad Hotel was built in 1970 on Vyborg Embankment. The main goal of the designers and builders was to quickly commission the property. The construction was to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great leader of the proletariat V.I. Lenin. During construction, few were interested in creating a safe environment for people. The use of flammable toxic materials during finishing work can be considered a real crime. They were located on the evacuation routes of people.
Carpets and walkways did not have a special impregnation that impedes the spread of fire. Wallpaper was also subject to slight fire. They emitted choking smoke and gas. The system responsible for the removal of smoke was also imperfect. As a result, during the fire, a large gas contamination formed, which led to poisoning of people.
Open apertures made it possible for fire and smoke to easily spread to neighboring floors and increase the death toll. What are the consequences of the fire at the Leningrad Hotel? 1991 was a fateful year for the building. The key events of the tragic day will be discussed in this article.
Soviet fashionable hotel
Foreign citizens stayed at the hotel, as well as leaders of the party, trade unions and the Komsomol, senior officials, actors and singers. The deluxe rooms were always busy.
In 1986, the construction of the second building of the hotel began. For certain reasons, the local construction trust suspended its work, after which the joint Yugoslav-Austrian company continued. The amount of the contract was $ 48.5 million. According to the agreement, the second building was supposed to start functioning two years after the date of transfer of the construction site in May 1989. He got the name "puck." By the way, at the time of the fire, most foreign builders lived in this particular building.
The fire at the Leningrad Hotel caught a lot of people. Among them were quite famous personalities: the correspondent of the magazine "Spark", the famous French actress Marina Vladi, Russian actor Andrei Sokolov and other artists who starred in the new film near Leningrad.
Who reported the fire?
The fire at the Leningrad Hotel began at 8 a.m. A call to the fire department, as stated later, was made very late. According to official figures, the first person to report the accident happened was the floor attendant. Other sources claimed the doorman phoned.
How did the Leningrad Hotel catch fire? The 1991 fire began from the seventh floor, which corresponded in height to the tenth floor of ordinary houses. Hotel staff initially tried to put out the flames on their own. By that time, the fire managed to cover the entire floor and block the escape routes for those on the two higher floors above. The heat caused the windows to burst in the rooms. They flew out with a bang. And the sudden gusts of wind breaking into the building from the Neva River exacerbated the situation. The upper floors of the hotel were shrouded in thick clouds of black smoke.
How quickly did the fire brigades react?
Six minutes later, a fire guard car drove up to the building covered by the fire, and then, one after another, other cars with tanks, pumps, stairs, gas distribution stations and other equipment began to drive up. Soon, all the fire brigades of Leningrad were brought up to the place of the tragic event.
Her staff immediately assessed the situation. The hall and stairs of the hotel were filled with guests and employees who escaped from floors located below the fire. To get upstairs, a group of firefighters decided to use the service elevator. It was necessary to quickly assess the situation and provide assistance to those who needed it, and then proceed to extinguish the fire.
What was the difficulty in saving people?
Folding stairs reached only the fourth floor of the building, and people in the windows begged for help on the seventh floor and above. Shrill screams were heard, thick smoke was pouring from the rooms, as a synthetic fire had occurred.
On the only stairs in a panic ran the guests who managed to escape from the ashes. Many who got out of the rooms, being poisoned by smoke, fell in the corridor. Before firefighters managed to rise to the ignition site by elevator, molten plastic managed to ruin a person’s life. On the tenth floor, a hotel employee was killed. When burning, this material releases up to one hundred toxic substances.
The fire (02.23.91) in the Leningrad Hotel spread instantly, which was facilitated by the wind. For a very short period of time, the seventh, eighth and ninth floors were blazing with bright fire, and the residents were blocked. One of the women, unable to stand it, jumped out of the window and died.
Departments of gas and smoke defenders hurriedly evacuated the hotel staircases. Rescuers carried on their shoulders people on clothes. The injured were immediately transferred to emergency doctors. Other firefighters engaged in laying a fire hose and entered into an unequal duel with fire.
How many people were saved?
In total, 253 people were rescued by firefighters, 36 of whom were carried in their arms. Among the saved were small children. However, not everyone received help. Six guests and a police officer Alexander Faykin, who helped to save people, were killed.
How many firefighters died?
There were much more deaths among firefighters. The fire at the Leningrad Hotel claimed the lives of nine employees. Several of them burned and suffocated. The rest died in an attempt to get out of a burning hotel.
Was there a chance to be saved?
According to Leonid Belyaev, the former head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of St. Petersburg, if there was the slightest opportunity to escape, firefighters would take advantage of it. Some firefighters from the 7th part jumped out of the windows. Belyaev notes that the sight of the dead guys lying on the ramp was terrifying. A total of nine firefighters died.
Awarded posthumously
How do people who sacrificed their lives extinguish a fire in a hotel in Leningrad? The dead were posthumously awarded orders in August of the same year. They did not forget about the surviving heroes who distinguished themselves in saving people in the hotel. According to eyewitnesses, the number of victims would be significantly higher if it were not for the courage and dedication of the rescuers.
In memory of the dead firefighters every year a mini-football tournament is held in St. Petersburg. All major fire-fighting competitions in this city are marked by the laying of funeral wreaths at the Serafimovsky cemetery.
According to eyewitnesses, the funeral procession with the bodies of the dead firefighters stretched for 10 kilometers. She moved under the howl of fire engine sirens. Thousands of people came to pay tribute.
February 23 is considered to be the day of memory of the dead comrades of firefighters.
Did the firefighters make a mistake?
The fact that the elevator was chosen by the firefighters became an occasion for speculation that it was a fatal mistake. The employees were credited with arrogance. But Valery Yankovich, who in 1991 was the head of the 1st fire department of Leningrad, many years later noted that in that situation there was no way to do otherwise. It was possible to get to the burning floors only with the help of elevators in order to bypass the crowd of people who rushed to the stairs in panic.
The combat charter at that time allowed the use of elevators. According to the rules, one should land on the floor below the burning one and extinguish by means of trunks. And the fact that the elevator stopped on a burning floor, according to experts, was caused by a circuit caused by high temperature. Undoubtedly, the human factor cannot be denied either. Firefighters were in the midst, no one could foresee such an outcome of events.
Suddenly, smoke and fire fighters made an attempt to go down, but at that moment the elevator was no longer working. People tried to break through to the stairs and windows located on the edge, smash the elevator car and go down the shaft. However, time was running out, for many firefighters who were on the seventh floor, the situation was a foregone conclusion.
At this time, the guests of the upper floors gathered at the open windows. They waved towels, and some tried to get out on their own. They tied the sheets and used other objects that came to hand. It ended with a fall and death. Fire ate number after number, reducing the chance of survival.
According to those participating in the events, in those days fire brigades were not equipped with special equipment designed to evacuate people from great heights, and there were no rescue helicopters.
The fire at the Leningrad Hotel (February 23, 1991), the photo of which is presented in this article, also caught the famous actress Marina Vlady. According to her recollections, she would have surely died if not for the fireman, a wonderful brave man. He held on his hands a staircase that did not reach the seventh floor. The actress had to jump right on her from the window.
Eyewitnesses
According to eyewitnesses, the fire in the Leningrad Hotel, whose photo forever captured the tragedy, was a terrible sight. It killed all Leningrad residents in a festive mood. Celebrated on February 23. Although the scale of the tragedy was still unknown, it immediately seemed that the rally in honor of the significant date would not be held as usual.
At that time there were no mobile phones and the Internet. How did people learn about such an event as a fire in the Leningrad Hotel (1991)? The accounts of eyewitnesses passing by the burning hotel contributed to the spread of as yet unclear rumors.
The journalist Alexander Nevzorov, who received the floor at a rally in support of the preservation of the USSR, reported on the accident in Leningrad. The event was held on Palace Square. Nevzorov managed to visit the scene in the morning as a reporter. He noted that there are victims. However, even he did not know the details of the incident at that moment. There was no accurate summary of the victims. The townspeople learned about the incident only on Monday.
The official version of what happened
The fire at the Leningrad Hotel has an official version. According to the examination, the source of ignition was the 774th room, in which Swedish tourists lived. They turned on the semiconductor TV "Record V-312". Later, the guests went down to the dining room and did not turn it off. The transformer ignited at 8 a.m. After the fire was extinguished, melted wires were found in room 774, indicating a short circuit. The plastic trim inside the hotel contributed to the instant spread of fire. In addition, when it melted, it began to release toxic substances.
Unverified Versions
The fire at the Leningrad Hotel (February 23, 1991) was regarded ambiguously. There were other versions that did not find official confirmation.
One of the victims of the fire was Mark Grigoriev, editor of the magazine Ogonyok. He was discovered in his room. The deceased's head was badly damaged. But experts came to the conclusion that, most likely, the skull burst under the influence of high temperature.
A few years later, detained gang member Yuri Shutov, Airat Gimranov, confessed to law enforcement officials that he had taken part in the liquidation of the journalist and the arson of the hotel to confuse the traces, but no evidence was found.
Often you could hear other versions. Many claimed that the tragedy was the result of the work of Western intelligence services, the redistribution of the hotel business, attempts to undermine the reputation of M. S. Gorbachev, an attempt on the actress Marina Vlady, etc.
The version was also announced that it was a terrorist act, the purpose of which was to disrupt the rally on Palace Square, which took place in front of the All-Union referendum for the preservation of the USSR. But the rally, despite the fire, was held.
How did television present a fire at the Leningrad Hotel? The documentary film “Saved Leningrad” fully illuminated the event, as well as the possible causes of the fire.
