The Grand Kartal Hotel Fire Report of TMMOB Chambers of Electrical, Construction, Mechanical Engineers and Chamber of Architects was Announced
The Grand Kartal Hotel Fire Report of TMMOB Chambers of Electrical, Civil, Mechanical Engineers and Chamber of Architects was shared with the public on February 21, 2025.
January 21, 2025, we would like to express our condolences to the relatives of 78 citizens, including 36 children, who we lost in the fire at the Kartalkaya Grand Kartal Hotel, and our urgent wishes for healing to the injured Dec.
We, as the Chambers of Electrical Engineers, Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Architects affiliated to TMMOB, are presenting to the public the detailed report attached to our October statement on fires within the scope of our profession and specialties. The report we have prepared with public responsibility covers both the Grand Kartal Hotel fire and all relevant legislation.
Preliminary Information
In the fight against fire in our country, it is observed that the inadequacy of inspection and maintenance services mostly plays an important role after the permission to use the building. Early detection of fires, evacuation of people to safe areas, minimizing loss of life and property; fire detection-alarm, emergency guidance, emergency lighting, extinguishing, smoke evacuation and pressurization systems have a very important task.
In the Incident Scene / Fire Report dated 23.01.2025 of the Bolu Municipality Fire Department, it is stated that ”it has been determined that the fire started from the kitchen / restaurant section located on the 4th floor". According to the current fire report on hotel-motel fires by the US Fire Administration, which is part of the American Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), cooking-related fires have the highest rate. On the other hand, statistics show that there are many causes of fires in hotels. For this reason, in terms of fire safety, it is primarily to ensure the safe evacuation of people from the building before the fire grows with passive and active measures.
These measures are specified in the Regulation on Fire Protection of Buildings published in the Official Gazette dated 19.12.2007, published on 26.07.2002 in accordance with the characteristics of the building and subsequently divided into "new“ and "existing buildings" and revised; it is the presence of escape routes and escape stairs, access routes to the building, the use of appropriate building materials, fire partitions, carrier system insulation, emergency lighting and direction signs, fire notification buttons, fire detection and warning systems, the appropriate type of extinguishing, pressurization and smoke evacuation system and first aid teams. Regular periodic inspections, tests and maintenance in accordance with the standards that will ensure the continuity of these Dec systems are also among the priorities.
Assessment of the Grand Kartal Hotel fire
The determinations we will give below are based on the Fire Department report, eyewitness statements, actual information reflected in the media, the preliminary report of the chief inspectors of the Property and the observations made by the relevant Branches of our Chambers. Unfortunately, almost all of the following findings and observations are examples of violations of legislation.
In terms of building characteristics, the hotel has 8 floors above the +0.00 code code, 4 floors below it, a total of 12 floors; the building height is about 29 m, including basement floors, 43 m. According to the information reflected in the media, the first license date of the hotel is 1997, the renovation license was obtained in 1999. the usage area of the 26-year-old building is over 16,000 m2 and it is not known whether a renovation license was obtained after 1999.
According to the Regulation on Fire Protection of Buildings, Grand Kartal Hotel is in the “existing structure” and “high-rise building” class in terms of known license dates and is subject to the provisions of the regulation on escape routes, exit capacity and escape distance, number and width of escape routes, fire safety hall, emergency exit requirement, location and arrangement of escape ladder slots, escape ladder characteristics, escape ladder ventilation, basement escape stairs, escape route doors, indicating the necessary issues to be taken in “existing buildings” until 19.12.2008.
According to the criteria of the building floor dimensions and the number of users on the floors, at least two escape (fire) stairs and stairs must be fire-resistant, smoke-sealed for at least 90 minutes, and there must be a fire safety hall. However, contrary to the legislation, it was determined that there is only one escape staircase, there is no fire safety hall, the fire escape doors, which should be fire resistant for 90 minutes, are wooden, smoke-tight, a base station and an electrical shaft were installed to prevent escape in the staircase.
It has been determined that the building siding is wood Decking, the thermal insulation between the siding and the wall is made of flammable XPS material. The ceiling of many places in the building is paneled wood.
It was understood that the environmental arrangement was not suitable for fire trucks to maneuver, that the rear part of the building could be entered up to a certain point, and that the intervention was incomplete because there was no connection to the fire department water supply in that part.
According to the regulation, the elevators should be connected to the building's fire detection system and should be capable of not working during a fire, but the deaths in the elevator cabins showed that the elevators were in operation and not integrated into fire detection.
It was understood that there was no escape ladder ventilation and pressurization system in accordance with the relevant articles of the Regulation, and the ladder bucket was filled with smoke.
In the “high-rise building” class of the hotel, it was determined that there is no fixed piping installation that allows the fire brigade to transmit the water pressed into the system from the outside to the desired floor in accordance with the Regulation, since the total indoor use area is greater than 2000 m2; there are two fire cabinets to be used for first responders, but there is no water in the tank that provides water to the cabinets.
It is understood that there is no automatic sprinkler system in accordance with the regulation.
It has been seen that there is no automatic fire extinguishing system with hood on the grill and January cookers in the kitchen section, gas detection, gas cut-off and warning system have not been installed.
It has been seen that the systems in accordance with the relevant article of the Regulation on the detection and warning system were not installed to cover the entire hotel, charred, and did not work during the fire.
It was stated that the emergency lighting system, which should provide uninterrupted lighting for at least 120 minutes on the escape routes, is located only in the escape ladder, has not been installed in other areas, the existing one is also in disrepair and the usage time of the batteries has passed.
It has been stated that the hotel's internal electrical installation does not comply with the legislation, the cables used are not flame retardant, the route and location were not selected correctly.
Responsibility, maintenance, supervision, occupational safety and regulatory issues in the Grand Kartal Hotel fire
The provisions of the Regulation hold the administration authorized to issue building and operating licenses of the hotel outside the municipal borders or military area, investor organizations or building owners, employers or representatives, architects and engineers responsible for design and implementation, as well as implementing contractors and manufacturers, consultants, consultants, project control, building supervision and operating officials involved in building construction and use, officials, officials and defects responsible for the implementation of these provisions and fire damage.
Insurance companies have also been given a clear responsibility by being obliged to check whether the provisions of the Regulation are being complied with in the insured building.
According to the Tourism Promotion Law, the Regulation on the Qualifications of Tourism Facilities and the Regulation on the Supervision of Tourism Investments, Enterprises and Organizations, the area where the hotel is located is a tourism area within the scope of the Tourism Promotion Law. In the Regulation on the Qualifications of Tourism Facilities, it is mandatory to carry out regular maintenance of all kinds of installations, electrical and mechanical equipment in accordance with the standards in tourism facilities. It should also be noted that the facilities were requested to submit the fire compliance letter / report to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism by 30.04.2024, but this period was extended to 31.08.2024 with the approval of the Ministry, and it was stated that if the appropriate document was not sent within the given period, the facility document would be canceled in accordance with the relevant subparagraph of the Tourism Promotion Law. While it is even controversial to grant additional time with the consent of the minister on this issue, it is believed that the ministry's violation of the legislation regarding the cancellation of the document at the end of October by not fulfilling the relevant provision of the regulation and allowing the operation of the enterprise invites disaster.
With the Special Provincial Administration Law, these administrations have also been given the task of licensing and supervising non-sanitary institutions and public recreation and entertainment places outside the municipal borders
According to the Regulation on Workplace Opening and Work Permits, the hotel is also in accordance with the Tourism Promotion Law in question; it is clearly stated that the supervisory authority is given to the Special Provincial Administration and only to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on certain issues, and it is also stated that the workplace opening and work license will be issued by the authorized administrations within fifteen days without any other processing, but for public recreation and entertainment places, these issues will be checked on site before the workplace opening and work license is issued, and they will check whether these issues have been fulfilled in the inspections they will conduct after the issuance of the work license.
It is known that the hotel was inspected 5 times by the Special Provincial Administration in 2011, Jul 2016, jul 2019, JUL 2021, jul 2024; kitchen departments, food preparation, food storage, drinking and drinking water supply analysis report, ventilation system, personnel hygiene and food safety areas were inspected, but it is unknown whether the issues related to the status of the fire safety measures requested at the licensing stage were met in the inspections.
https://www.mmo.org.tr/sites/default/files/gonderi_dosya_ekleri/YANGIN%20RAPORU.pdf
