Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 11, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba U Winnipeg free january 1987 1 burned out remnants of the Dupont Plaza hotel in puerto a fire there on new years eve killed 96 two of them hotel fire portrait of disaster most of the 96 victims died in the first two minutes by Joseph Treaster the new York times san Alexander Leighton was walking his Golden retriever on the curving Condado a wild surf pounding at his when a acrid odor caught his he turned toward the towering White Dupont Plaza hotels combed with More than 420 near the dense Black smoke was Curling from the top of a door in a ballroom near the vast Gam bling who runs a guest House glanced at his it was on new years in the next several minutes the Dupont Plaza was engulfed in the most deadly hotel fire on american soil in 40 the authorities say that it was deliberately set and that their search for those responsible is now focusing on several members of a labor Union that had been feuding with the details of the disaster have unfolded in bits and through interviews with dozens of fire investigators and other witnesses it is Possi ble to piece together a comprehensive questions raised in studying the questions have been raised about the hotels initial response to the its fire safety equipment and proce the extent of dam age and the manner in which 96 people died because of the fire Are strikingly different from what was suggested in the initial dramatic scenes of guests frantically screaming and waving for help from the balconies of the 22storey Tower As firefighters and helicopter Crews manoeuvred through Bil lowing Clouds of while the fire raged for More than six All but two of the deaths occurred in the first few minutes and Many of the victims literally exploded when a wave of intense heat and smoke estimated at greater than 600 c flashed through the puerto rican fire officials and Federal investigators the authorities say that although a great Deal of smoke coursed through the the fire did not spread upward beyond the main where the lobby and Casino Only one person died above that level an elderly woman in room 404 who was overcome by beneath the Casino and on the ground floor where the fire is believed to have been the a a several shops and an poolside cafe were three including Brooke the Dupont plazas operations died in the one person died in a Hospi the other 91 victims died in the most of them in two big heaps near a Small door and a Row of big floor ceiling windows fac ing the Blu tiled swimming a handful of people smashed the win Dows with chairs and jumped to a Patio four metres puerto rican fire officials say the fire May have been burning for As Long As 10 to 14 minutes before the hotel called for help at Jose Deputy chief of the puerto Rico fire said that while surveying the dam age he found a fire Hose out of its rackfa1 the Dupont plazas base indicating that the hotel might have tried to fight the fire on its he said he thought the hotel might have been scared of bad publicity from the presence of firefighters and equipment on the three Small fires had erupted at the hotel in the previous two and the hotel tried unsuccessfully to put out at least one of them gone to their rooms for Only a few minutes to change clothes or to pick up camera equipment when they found themselves in determination and Luck helped Many of them save their a few minutes before the Man walking his dog saw the shannons Diana who is also a graphic shifted in her Beach chair and told him she was going up to their room to change for for no partic ular reason other than he wanted her he talked her into staying out in the Sun with him a while Union meeting in the local 901 of the International brotherhood of Black fingers of smoke were spiral ing through air conditioning ducts and airspace above the lobby and the smoke was invading shops and a restaurant on the lower level with the blocked from View behind the ducts and the heat and smoke was beginning to envelope the Casino in a deadly Blanket of smoke and lethal in the Michael who owns a company that provides temporary office help in manhat was winning at the craps he glanced away from the Dice and saw smoke entering the it was crawling along the ceiling in a undulating layer about 15 centimetres take me Kusiak said to the cancelling his bets and fires come in All shapes and sizes this one was worst possible before calling for Carrasquillo Juan a Deputy District fire said the first Call to the department reporting the fire came from a woman who identified her self As Teresa Gonzalez and gave the emergency operator the Dupont plazas Telephone about people were registered at the Dupont but it was a Beautiful with Clear skies and a Light warm Breeze rippling across the and More than half the guests were out when the fire menacing Calls a few said they had left the hotel deliberately after receiving menacing Anonymous Calls in their room saying that they would be burned the hotel told the guests there was nothing to worry and later sent away two policemen who came to investigate a bomb James a 32yearold graphic artist from had checked in that morning and was buying a newspaper at a nearby drugstore when another tourist mentioned the three Previ Ous fires in the Dupont about Shannon raised the matter with a heavyset Man be Hind the front desk and says he was told theres no truth to there were no Many survivors said they had teamsters had just ended a meet ing in the about 120 of the unions 290 members in the hotel had unanimously rejected manage ments latest contract leaving a Midnight strike deadline in Bruce the hotels vice president for sales and was in the a frown crossed his he smelled it was wafting through a door leading in an office off the lobby a secret service Manuel was studying counterfeit Money that had been passed at the the operations was near a dark haired Man who had come to san Juan from a hotel Job in bounded Down the stairs and stopped Short at the Entrance to the Ball room near where a shipment of new still wrapped in heavy had been tall flames were devouring the he sprinted upstairs to a Bell mans station in the lobby and grabbed a it was Shulman says he went Back to the ballroom but he has been unwilling to say what he did after the smoke from the ballroom was coming thicker and Darker now and starting to push into the main Entrance of the Casino and spread through the thick stuffing chips into his pockets As he started threading his Way through the Thicket of other easing people out of his Way with a tap on the shoulder a nudge he did not shout an he said without raising his kept the smoke is com the smoke is at a Blackjack Thomas a 32yearold lawyer from saw smoke Drift ing outside one of the casinos floor ceiling tinted windows and asked the dealer where it was com ing he never took his eyes off the Cadden he just kept the worst kind fires occur in almost As Many different shapes and personalities As according to a number of the one building up in the belly of the Dupont Plaza was the worst possible it mushroomed in seconds into a raging hungrily feeding on chemically laced Plas tics and synthetic heavy Wall Plush window dressings and thick belching its lethal smoke and gases and generating such intense heat that alumni num window frames and fixtures in such murderous the fell covered Dice table clothes and ceiling panels ignite even before a flame is human beings Are wreathed in flames in a some objects seem to flames racing through a room Burn the Lif Esus Taining oxygen from the air and suck away a victims he gulps Down superheated smoke and Gas and collapses As the flames sweep Over shortly after the first smoke entered the a handful of gamblers noticed the ceiling of the More than 60 metres suddenly Blacken As a cardboard Box does in a fireplace immediately before bursting into next they saw a curtain of flame plunge to the floor along the Wall at the main slant Forward and race across the length of the parallel to the to the Wall of windows facing the swimming Kusiak remembers seeing the wooden door at the exit near the Pool windows he suddenly decided it was at about the same other survivors who were unaware that a fire was developing say they walked out through the door Only to find the lobby and a spiral staircase to the swimming Pool in smoke and they ran Back into the broke the windows and jumped people were in show two men hurled a Young a through a win Dow and leaped out behind on the Leighton saw a dragon Tongue of flame shoot out of the Casino and ignite the Long striped Canvas awning Over the poolside bar and Casino quiet a Man who had just landed on the Patio saw the fiery arc withdrawing Back through a jagged window and suddenly realized that the Casino had fallen Anthony a new York and Nicholas who owns a health club in new climbed through a lattice work fringe on the roof Over the Penthouse Garden and began lifting the others in about 25 the first Rescue helicopter arrived and balanced on an Edge of the struggling to keep its rotors from slamming into the hotels Bulky air conditioning fire officials say most of the res cues by helicopter and by men Scal ing the sheer face of the hotel like Mountain climbers took place in the first two but Deputy fire chief Carrasquillo said firemen searching the Smoky building led the last group of 23 people to the roof about or 9 More than five hours after the Nightmare had although Only one person died on the higher dozens were hospitalized for Frac Tures and smoke the terror and panic that seized the hotel guests As they began to real ize the building was in flames will never be the Day after the fire Many were showing visible signs of Shock and later in the week a number of them said they had been reliving the horror in vivid libyan soldiers losing Battles in Chad by Terry Atlas Chicago Tribune Nairobi the forces of libyan Leader Moa mar who is More accustomed to supporting guerrillas than fighting Are losing their grip on the area of Northern Chad they have controlled since according to and african Gad Hafis allies in the impoverished North african the nomadic Youbou tribesmen of chads Northern Tiberti have turned against last the experienced guerrilla putting aside 20 years of civil announced an Alliance with the chadian government to drive out the adding to the pressure on French backed chadian government troops have scored major victories in recent Days Over the estimated to libyans who have held key towns in the sparsely populated Northern part of the this is a moment when the government of Chad seems to be on the and i think they have just Secretary of state George Shultz said Friday after discussing the situation with president Paul Hiya of chads Southwest Shultz then flew to the capital of to continue his tour of sub saharan Shultz said he assured who has expressed concern about libyan activities in Chad and elsewhere in that the will keep close track of developments example of Force the Reagan administration has Given particular attention to what would otherwise be an obscure citing it As a Clear example of Libya use of Force to extend its influence into a neighbouring coun Qadhafi is in Chad and Doest have any business in somebody else said support for a landlocked and largely desert has be come an important element in the Reagan administrations anti Liby an the is working closely with chads former colonial in efforts to strengthen the government of president his Sene prevent further advances by the libyans if to Roll Back the libyan occupation of North Ern the Reagan administration last month announced it was Rushing million in emergency military Aid to officials Here directly confirm a report in the Cameroon Tribune that the also has provided c5a transports to help the French Airlift military sup plies to which has promised to ensure the Security of Southern has about soldiers As Well As military aircraft for 20 since the end of French colonial Chad been caught up in a civil War Between Northern moslem and Southern Christian Libya moved into Chad in when Qadhafi unilaterally annexed the Amouzou chads northernmost since Libya invasion in support of Northern Chad has been essentially partitioned along the 16th the Southern part of the country is under government control and the Northern 40 per cent is controlled by libyans and Chad Ian rebels Loyal to former president go Kouni but the chadian rebels broke with Qadhafi after their Lead was arrested 30 in and apparently wounded in a shootout when he Qadhafi reportedly ordered go Kouni put under House arrest after the chadian stated publicly that he was ready to open reconciliation talks with the Habre bombing strikes the War has taken a higher profile in recent Days As for the first has sent bombers to strike targets South of the 16th that has brought French Retalia Tion strikes against a Libya held radar Complex in Northern but officials said the fighting on the ground has been More import with government troops and former rebels hitting hard at libyan in a key Battle earlier this government forces overran an important libyan base at the Fada killing or scattering As Many As libyans and capturing so vie built libyan weapons and this is the first time that a sizable libyan contingent has been routed from an established Posi said the american who follows developments in Chad ;