The Ycuá Bolaños supermarket fire, also known as the Ycuá Bolaños Tragedy, was a major

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

that occurred on 1 August 2004 in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

, Paraguay. After the fire broke out, exits were locked to prevent people from stealing merchandise. The building also lacked adequate

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially Conflagration, destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, Compartmentalization (fire protection), compartmentalisation, suppression and inve ...

systems. Over 400 people were killed and more than 300 were injured. The president of the supermarket company, as well as various employees, were later sentenced to prison terms for their actions during the fire.

Background

The Ycuá Bolaños V supermarket, located in the Paraguayan capital

, opened on 7 December 2001. The two-story building consisted of an underground parking garage on the lower level and a sales area and

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

on the second story. Two separate

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

s contained administrative offices and an extension of the food court. According to the defense attorney of the building's owner, the bakery and food court kitchen were not properly ventilated, which caused smoke and gas to accumulate in the building. The structure also lacked a

fire sprinkler system A fire sprinkler system is an active fire protection method, consisting of a water supply system providing adequate pressure and flowrate to a water distribution piping system, to which fire sprinklers are connected. Although initially used on ...

and the

smoke detector A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors/alarms are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about in diameter and thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be ...

s did not work.

Fire

The fire broke out on 1 August 2004, with two

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

s on the first floor, when the supermarket was packed with customers shopping and eating. As the fire came down the stairway from the main shopping area, the charge was so hot people were burnt to ashes and bones, and cars that were filled with gasoline started to combust and explode, causing shoppers to be burned by the subsequent explosions or suffocate due to the building's unventilated system inside. The fire burned for seven hours before firefighters were able to extinguish it. The final death toll was 424, and more than 300 injured. The cause was believed to be a faulty

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

chimney that leaked hot flammable gases into the ceiling, which ignited. Several survivors of the fire and volunteer firefighters alleged that, when the fire broke out, doors within the complex were deliberately closed under the direction of the owners, Juan Pío Paiva and his son, Víctor Daniel, trapping people inside, in order to prevent people from fleeing with merchandise without paying for it. The management of the shopping center denied the charge. Paiva, his son and a security guard surrendered to the police and were formally charged.

Aftermath

On 5 December 2006, Juan Pío Paiva, Víctor Daniel Paiva and the security guard were convicted of involuntary manslaughter with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The prosecution however was seeking a 25-year prison term. As the verdict was read, angry survivors and family members of the deceased started a violent demonstration inside the courtroom, which later spread onto the streets of Asunción. The prosecution demanded a retrial. On 2 February 2008, a new court ruled that the trio committed

negligent homicide Negligent homicide is a criminal charge brought against a person who, through criminal negligence, allows another person to die. Other times, an intentional killing may be negotiated down to this lesser charge as a compromised resolution of a mur ...

. Juan Pío Paiva, president of the company, received a sentence of 12 years in prison. His son Víctor Daniel Paiva, present at the start of the fire, was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Security guard Daniel Areco, who closed the doors, was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Additionally, shareholder Humberto Casaccia, also present at the start of the fire, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for endangering people in the workplace. Architect Bernardo Ismachowiez, who both designed and built the complex, spent two years under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

for "dangerous activities in construction". Both Víctor Daniel and Juan Pío were released on probation in 2013 and 2014 respectively, after a ruling from the Court of Appeals decided they were to serve the remainder of the sentence in liberty for good behavior.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ycua Bolanos supermarket fire 2004 in Paraguay 2000s fires in South America 2004 fires August 2004 crimes in South America August 2004 in South America 2000s in Asunción Fires in Paraguay Fire disasters involving barricaded escape routes Commercial building fires Events in Asunción 2004 disasters in Paraguay Supermarkets of South America Building and structure fires in South America