What caused a hotel fire at a Turkish ski resort?

A fire that killed at least 76 people at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the early hours of Monday is one of the deadliest disasters in Turkish history.

Some survivors said they had not been warned, and experts told the BBC they did not expect such a high death toll to occur in a hotel with fully functioning fire protection systems.

The 12-story hotel in Turkey’s famous Kartakaya ski resort hosts tens of thousands of visitors every year, so Turks are eager to find out how such a horrific accident happened at the start of a two-week school holiday.

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 reported smelling smoke as early as an hour ago.

Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the hotel has a fire safety certificate “issued by the fire department”.

But that was met with opposition by local mayor Tanju Özcan, who in 2016 He said that since 2007, the Ministry of Fire Protection has not submitted a positive report.

Some survivors say they heard no alarm, and the hotel’s fire-fighting systems are said to be inadequate.

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

“We got down before the others, the alarm didn’t go off…it took an hour to an hour and a half for the fire brigade to come. Meanwhile, the fourth and fifth floors were burning. People on the upper floors were screaming.

Some of the guests on the upper floors tried to escape with their beds, while others jumped to their deaths.

Ilem Senturk said the fire alarm didn’t go off until she left the building. Her husband had to jump from the hotel balcony because of the smoke: “We are very lucky to have survived.”

The BBC has tried to contact the hotel’s management about the allegations but has yet to receive a response.

Nine people, including the owner of the hotel, have been arrested by Turkish investigative bodies.

The management of the hotel has issued a statement saying that they are sorry for the damage and that they will fully cooperate with the authorities.

In a large building where fire protection systems are fully operational, experts say that fire detectors will respond to a fire within seconds and send an alarm to the fire control dashboard.

“In a good business, there should be someone running 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 death toll is also very high, raising further questions.

“There will always be fire, but we don’t expect that many people to die in this building,” said Professor Sevket Ozgur Atayilmaz, head of the mechanical engineering department at Yildiz Technical University, who worked on fire safety planning.

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

The Minister of the Interior said there were two fire escapes, but there are indications that they are not in good condition.

Turkish Chambers of Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) Union official in Bolu, Erol Persin, pointed out that the way the fire spread may be due to the lack of fire alarm, detection and extinguishing systems.

He said the building’s exterior wooden exterior was supposed to be 100 percent fire-resistant, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

The head of the Turkish Fire Protection and Education Foundation told the BBC that the scale of the fire suggested that “the fire system is not there or not prepared according to the standards”.

At the time, 238 people lived in the Grand Cartel Hotel.

Kazim Besseren said fire systems are designed to take three minutes to evacuate each floor – and a facility with more than 200 people can be evacuated in 15 to 30 minutes at best.

According to the head of the Turkish Fire Protection and Education Foundation, when the alarm goes off, the fire control dashboard is expected to check the scene.

Fire alarms are normally activated in the building if there is no false alarm signal or if a second detector sends an alarm.

A properly installed system directs people to nearby fire exits with announcements, lights that sound with an audible warning for the hearing impaired or sleepers.

Because fires can spread so quickly, sprinkler systems are considered critical for early intervention.

It is also a backup power source. According to the fire protection regulations, the signs pointing to the emergency exits and the lights showing the roads leading to these exits should be turned on within one to three hours even if the power is cut.

According to the Association of Engineers and Architects in Bolu, “automatic sprinkler system is mandatory” in buildings of this size.

The photos on the hotel’s website show that The automatic sprinkler system, which was supposed to be installed in 2008, was not installed. As a result of this failure, the fire spread quickly and there were casualties.

BBC Turkey has not been able to independently confirm the allegations about the wooden cladding on the building or the hotel’s fire suppression system.

One big question is whether the hotel’s fire protection systems have been properly inspected.

Bolu Mayor Tanju Özkan said the Ministry of Tourism is responsible because the hotel is beyond the limits of his city. Errol Percy agreed.

The mayor said Bolu Municipality last issued a report stating that the hotel was fireproof in 2007 and since then no inspection has been done.

However, Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy stated that the hotel has a certificate of fire safety and that it was “issued by the fire department” and that the inspection was on them.

Due to the change in law, relatively old structures are called for to be inspected.

Yildiz Technical University Professor Atayilmaz said: “If places do not meet the current standards, they should stop working in crowded places such as hotels, residences, nursing homes or kindergartens.”