Edifício Grande Avenida

Edifício Grande Avenida or Grande Avenida Building is a sitting at number 1754 in Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo City, Brazil, some 50m from Peixoto Gomide St.Characterized by one of the remarkable architectural styles in town, this building staged two fires during its history. The first of which, of a lesser proportions took place in 1969. Given the building's strategic location in one of the most important commuting points in the city, and the large proportions of the second fire.The disaster had is beginning in the mezzanine of the building, in the afternoon of February 14, 1981, leaving behind 17 deadly victims and shattered allthe levels in the building. Death toll was not taller only because the episode happened on a Carnival Saturday and only a few people were working inside de building.Most of those were employed with "Construtora Figueiredo Ferraz", a local civil engineering contractor, working on overtine to keep up with a delayed project to be presented on next Thursday.The wind column climbing the back house coming from 9 de Julho Avenue below, acted as a true bellow, feeding the fire. All levels were swallowed by the flames, very in short time.Vehicles of the Fire Brigade, coming from Praça da Sé headquarters followed upwards Brigadeiro Luís Antonio Avenue;other units came from Consolação St barracks.Private helicopters landed at the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), in an area contiguous to its free span, wherein , nowadays, an antiques fair takes place. In that time there were helicopters landing platforms nowhere in the Avenida Paulista or it vicinities.Practitioners used the trunks of their cars as medicine carriers. Somebody wrote down in white over the asphalt "Calm, down! Calm, down!"So that helicopters´ pilots could be aware, at all times, of the need to be cautious when approaching the area. The greater danger was the possibility of the fire to reach the top floor, where the leading television networks's - Record TV - transmitting tower is located, and where, on that day, paint drums used in the tower's maintenance were stored in addition to drums of diesel oil for the tower's power generator.

Silvio Santos, a successful entrepreneur in many areas, had just become one of the owners of Record TV, having acquired the majority of its shares.

Following the accident, the City Government declared such type of arrangements on buildings illegal.

References

* [http://www.estadão.com.br O Estado de S.Paulo] - newspapers
* [http://www.folha.com.br Folha de S.Paulo] - newspapers editorial Feb 15, 1981

Internlink

[http://pt.wikipedia.org|Edifício Grande Avenida]