What happened at the Heliopolis Sheraton hotel in 1990?

On 1 May 1990 a fire spread to the Heliopolis Sheraton hotel in Cairo, Egypt.  At the time of the incident the hotel housed around 1,000 guests - tragically 16 people lost their lives.

The six storey, 630-bed hotel was constructed to the building code of the day which did not require any water sprinkler system or fire alarm, with the exception of high-risk areas such as laundry rooms.

How did the Heliopolis Sheraton hotel fire start?

An accidental fire had started in a tent adjacent to the hotel. The tent, which was used as a restaurant inside the grounds caught alight when sparks generated by the clay oven ignited the canvas, producing a fast speed of flame aided by high winds of 25mph. This sent sparks across to the main building.

What can the industry learn from the Heliopolis Sheraton hotel fire?

An enquiry into the event concluded:
 

• The corridors were too long and were not subdivided or fire separated with resistive compartmentation
• For the alarms that were installed the hotel policy was to switch them off the moment they activated
• There were no fire doors installed and many people inhaled smoke, either suffering at the time or shortly after
• The enquiry concluded that although the hotel was constructed to the standard and fulfilled safety obligations, three members of staff were sentenced to two-year jail terms for negligence. Survivors took legal action against the Sheraton Corporation