Faqra fire disaster: Rescue efforts save many, two tragically perish — the details

Report by Abdullah Malaeb, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

A widening fire broke out in a building near the Faqra roundabout in Kfardebian. Residents, alongside civil defense and Red Cross teams, rushed to rescue those trapped amid the flames. The fire engulfed a residential hotel and a construction materials warehouse on a hot summer afternoon.

Rescuers managed to save eight injured individuals but failed to rescue a woman and a child, the wife and daughter of a truck driver employed by the owning family. The driver survived despite severe injuries. All victims are Syrian nationals.

By what was described as divine intervention, the fire reached shops containing highly flammable construction materials. Injuries were numerous and severe.

LBCI spoke to two building owners, Joseph and Antoine Salameh, who declined to speak on camera pending ongoing investigations launched by the Aayoun el-Siman police unit. 

They said the fire was intentionally set. According to their account, the blaze began when nylon bags covering insulation materials caught fire, destroying most of the insulation.

The building’s security cameras were destroyed, but the electrical generator, which the owners said was not in use, remained intact. The building’s power is supplied by solar energy and was not interrupted.

The owners explained the fire started on the lower floor, where insulation materials were stored and then spread to the first floor, which houses a construction warehouse adjacent to the Syrian family’s apartment that lost two members.

Divine intervention protected residents from a greater disaster. But questions remain: Who protects citizens? Who regulates the construction sector and determines which warehouses meet public safety standards and can be located within residential buildings?

Such incidents happen repeatedly. With today’s extreme temperatures, stronger and more effective oversight is needed to prevent threats to public safety.