Fire flares up under Chamonix lift

A fire broke out last week beneath the Planpraz gondola high above Chamonix, leading to the evacuation of 200 people on the lift and in the area.
The lift carries about 3,000 passengers per day and it is thought one of these threw a lit cigarette butt from one of the gondolas cabins, which caused the fire between the tenth and eleventh support towers, close to the lift’s top station at Brévent (1900m).
The fire grew rapidly with flames reaching more than 5m reported to lick around the cabins moving over the brush wood fire until the cabins were safely stored in the lift station.
Initial attempts to fight the blaze by the Chamonix fire brigade from the ground were thwarted by strong winds and toxic fumes so Chamonix’s CMBH helicopter was called it. It made 38 water dumping trips over the fire, collecting 900 litres of water each time from the Champraz lake.
This rapid action stopped the fire from getting worse and after two hours it was brought under control and firemen spent the afternoon damping down the area.
One cabin was damaged by the fire but there were no injuries. The Mont Blanc Lift Company provided seven 4×4 vehicles to get people who had gone up in the gondola in the morning back down the mountain .
The lift was inspected later in the day and the cables declared safe so that the lift could resume operations.
The fire was the second this summer beneath the same lift, although the earlier fire had been less severe.

The risk of fire on our facilities or under the lift cables constitutes is always a danger and a situation we dread,” said a Mont Blanc Lift Company statement, “Considering the practical difficulties in accessing our sites, we remind all our customers that there is an absolute ban on smoking in the cabins and in the lift stations.”

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