Agence France Presse reports that four people have died in a fire in a care home in Isère, near Grenoble. The fire was reported at about 21:00 on Friday, 23rd August in the care home in the centre of the village of La Terrasse. It began in an apartment on the second floor (third storey) and according to investigators is believed to have been caused by an electrical appliance. The Minister for the Aged, Michèle Delaunay, visited the scene and assured reporters that the home, refurbished in 1998, met the regulations. The home housed 82 residents and the Minister said the usual number of personnel was present. Over 150 fire-fighters and emergency responders attended, aided by inhabitants of the village.

France does not require sprinklers in care homes. There have been a number of other multiple death fires in French care homes in recent years and many French fire safety experts now believe that sprinklers are the best way to prevent these unnecessary tragedies. The Nordic countries, Scotland and Wales all require sprinklers in new care homes and hundreds of existing care homes in those countries, as well as in England, have been retrofitted with sprinklers. There is interest in this experience in France and the EFSN hopes that politicians will soon instruct officials to introduce the necessary regulations to make sprinklers mandatory in French care homes.