Fire updates

Three of O Globo's news stories from today & yesterday about the Cidade do Samba fire:

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BUSINESSES DONATE 1.5 MILLION REAIS TO ESCOLAS HIT BY CIDADE-DO-SAMBA FIRE; MAYOR EXPECTS TO DOUBLE THIS
By: Simone Candida and Tais Mendes
Feb. 8, 2011
O Globo link (in Portuguese) http://tinyurl.com/4qnpps5

RIO – Mayor Eduardo Paes announced this morning, during the opening ceremony of construction on the João Nogueira Cultural Center, that the escolas hit by the Cidade do Samba fire will receive an additional 3 million reais so that they can rebuild the destroyed floats and costumes. Grande Rio will receive R$1.5 million reais, and União da Ilha and Portela will each receive R$750,000. Paes expects to reach this sum by means of private initiatives. Three businesses have already guaranteed that they will donate R$1.5 million, according to Paes’ Twitter feed. The mayor said that he’s confident that new donors will appear. As of now the businesses did not want their names revealed. The mayor said that if necessary, some of the money can be raised by public contributions.

LIESA director Elmo José dos Santos said that LIESA will begin on Tuesday to erect large tents in front of the Cidade do Samba, which will be used by Portela and Ilha to re-buidl their floats. Grande Rio is occupying warehouse #7, recently vacated by Ilha. The tents should be ready in 3 or 4 days. Until then, the escolas can use the central patio of the Cidade do Samba.

According to Elmo, the escolas have already begun to make new costumes in their rehearsal halls in their home communities. Their fellow escolas are also helping; several have offered float frameworks to Grande Rio for rebuilding the floats.

“They want to parade with dignity on the Avenida. I think this will be a very emotional Carnaval. It’ll be a Carnaval with a lot of ‘chão’ .” said Elmo. [chão = literally ground, earth; in this context, community spirit, grit - KH]

Elmo said that it is almost certain that the fourth floor of the warehouses will be demolished. Construction business Delta, which originally built the Cidade do Samba, is already in the Cidade do Samba isolating the area, but the demolition is awaiting approval by the Fire Department and by the Civil Defense. According to Elmo, such reconstruction work is covered under the contract arranged when the complex was first built five years ago. The maintenance of the Cidade do Samba is the responsibility of RioUrbe, a part of the City Works.

Elmo denied the rumors that there was no fire alarm in the Cidade do Samba and that the sprinkler system has to be activated manually. He said only that there is no need to worry about setting a precedent that every time there is a fire, there might be an alteration of the rules about demoting escolas. [This is in reference to Liesa’s recent decision that no escola will be demoted this year due to the fire - KH]

He did not comment on the request by escola Alegria da Zona Sul, whose warehouse caught fire last weekend, destroying the costumes of six of their parade sections. That escola formally requested LESGA (League of the Escolas de Samba of Grupo-de-Acesso – the group below Grupo Especial] that, just as with Grupo Especial, no escola would be demoted from Grupo A this year.

“That’s a question for LESGA. In LIESA, everything was decided by consensus. The escolas all signed a document that this year no escola would be demoated. There’s no reason to think that every fire would have the same result,” said Elmo.

Next Tuesday, state representative Dionísio Lins will request that ALERJ (the state congress – Assembleia Legislative do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) set up a Special Commission to investigate the fire at the Cidade do Samba. The commission will have five members and will work for 90 days, with the option of another 30. Lins pointed out that many people who were working in the warehouses have said that there were many problems in the initial attempts to fight the fire.

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DESPITE LOSING COSTUMES TO FIRE, GRANDE RIO, ILHA & PORTELA PROMISE TO SURPRISE THE PUBLIC
By: O Globo
Feb. 8, 2011
O Globo link (Portuguese): http://tinyurl.com/494n8kk

RIO - The members of the escolas-de-samba of Grupo Especial that were affected by Monday’s fire say they will put on a Carnaval that will thrill the public. For example, Grande Rio’s bateria director Mestre Ciça said that they were going to do eight paradinhas (fancy breaks) in the Avenida. He said that even if they aren’t in the running for the overall championship, they’ll be fighting for some of the Carnaval awards, like O Globo’s “Gold Banner” awards. [Gold Banners are given for specific categories like Best Bateria, Best Song, etc. – KH]

“Among our new elements this year, we have 15 timbals [hand drums], which at a certain moment will form the mouth of a big cauldron, with special effects involving smoke, and the queen of the bateria, Cris Vianna, samba-dancing in the middle.”

Grande Rio’s honorary president Jaider Soares said that Mestre Ciça’s bateria will definitely still be using one of its planned new elements: all the drummers will be wearing ultra-modern masks imported from New York. But they have to be bought new, since more than 350 that were in the warehouse were burned.

Jaider, too, promised a great parade for Grande Rio. According to him, there will be five floats (three frameworks have been purchased from escola Inocentes de Belford Roxo) and about 4000 costumes. He said that everything will be simpler than what had been planned. The comissão de frente [opening dance group), for example, was supposed to have one of their members transforming into a werewolf, but that is no longer possible since the costume was burnt.

For the last two days, carnavalesco Cahe Rodrigues has been using a loaned office in Barra da Tijuca to re-design floats and costumes. “We’ll put on a beautiful Carnaval, for the people. We’ll use between 3 and 4 millino reais for this reconstruction,” said Jaider. He pointed out that the most elaborate costumes – the “luxury costumes” used by celebrities who parade with the escola – were saved because they were being constructed in private workshops.

União da Ilha, too, promises a Carnaval with almost everything that they had originally planned. The costumes are being re-made in simpler form. The float of the giant spider with moving legs, which was burned, is going to be re-built from scratch. Meanwhile, this week Portela is beginning to re-make its costumes with teams of volunteers in Madureira.

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GRANDE RIO, PORTELA AND UNIAO DA ILHA RACE THE CLOCK TO RECOVER FROM THE CIDADE DO SAMBA FIRE
By: Rafael Galdo
Feb. 9, 2011
O Globo link (Portuguese): http://tinyurl.com/4wxmphk

RIO - “Rise up, shake off the dust and get back up.” For the members of the three escolas hit by Monday’s fire at the Cidade do Samba, those famous samba lyrics [from “Volta Por Cima” – KH] have become their motto. And, after the shock of seeing their carnaval turn to ashes, Grande Rio, Portela and União da Ilha intensified their efforts this Wedneday to resume preparations for the parades. In Grande Rio, carnavalesco Caha Rodrigues spent the day re-designing costumes and floats. He’s already planning an homage to the artists of the warehouse that caught fire.

“They’ll all be on the last float. Ironworkers, decorators and carpenters who saw their work burned,” he said, explaining that he’s preparing another large float, an abre-alas (opening float bearing the escola’s name), and five tripods (small three-wheeled floats).

To put together these floats, the escola received on Wednesday two float frameworks from the escolas Inocentes de Belford Roxo and one from Unidos do Viradouro. 3000 costumes will be made using donated sewing machines that have just arrived at warehouse #7 of Cidade do Samba, where the escola will make its carnaval. As for the materials needed to make the costumes, Cahe said that it’s dribbling in slowly, and that they’re missing some items like wires and feathers.

“They’ll be light costumes, so that the paraders can have fun. Right now, we have to swallow our tears. Until Carnaval, we’re not going home. I’ll be sleeping in a hotel here in Centro.”

Grande Rio is also receiving the support of fans like 68-year old seamstress Marina Mendonça, who after 15 years without parading has offered her help. The same wave of solidarity has reached União da Ilha. Ilha’s Carnaval director Márcio André said that they’ve received 30 sewing machines loaned by a business. Other escolas, like Viradouro and Mocidade, are also helping Ilha. Ilha is inviting its fellow escolas to come to its technical rehearsal this Saturday in the Sambódromo.

Meanwhile, this Wednesday, workers from Ilha and Portela resumed float-decorating work in stands mounted at the Cidade do Samba, since the tents that will serve as the warehouses for the two escolas are not ready yet.

Portela also began making costumes in their “Little Portela” rehearsal hall in Madureira, where sewing machines have arrived on loan from neighboring escola Império Serrano. Volunteers have been meeting there.

“I took a course in headdress-making at the escola, and so I’ve come as a volunteer to put into practice what Portela taught me,” said Maria Isabel Mota, one of the volunteers. She was working side-by-side with famed escola VIPs like Natalino Maia de Melo, president of Portela’s Velha Guarda (Old Guard).

Freedom from judging - what will they do?

It just occurred to me that something very rare might occur in the Grupo Especial parades this year. Three groups will parade, but (according to Liesa's press release a few hours ago) their parades WILL NOT BE JUDGED. That's unprecedented. Though I'm still waiting for details to confirm this, it could potentially mean that they will be freed from the usual constraints on their parades. Escolas are always paranoid about losing a precious tenth of a point on this or that tiny little detail, and this makes them pretty conservative, following Liesa's every little regulation with slavish obedience. But now those three escolas can do whatever they want. They can go over the time limit; they could have horses! trained monkeys! trumpets! Full frontal nudity! (All those are against regulations.) Paraders could have all the gaps in parade that they want! They can stop under the judges' booth, take their costumes off and do cartwheels! They can bring beer and - at laaaast - be able to bring their digital cameras! Most of all, paraders will be singing the song because they WANT to, not because they have to.

There is potential here for three free-wheeling, invigorating, and extremely creative parades. Done on a shoestring and in just a month. Kind of the way escola parades used to be, way back in the old days when it all started. Though I'm terribly sorry for the three escolas (I'm actually writing to Portela now to see if there's any way to send donations), and terrifically frustrated that I'm not there right now so that I could go help make costumes, I'm also kind of curious to see what they'll do.

Liesa decides not to send down any escola in 2011

News release from Liesa, 7 Feb 2011:

The three escolas-de-samba affected by the fire that hit the Cidade do Samba on Monday morning - Grande Rio, Uniao da Ilha and Portela - will not be judged on their parades this year. And Grupo Especial of the Carnaval of Rio de Janeiro will not have any escola sent down in 2011. This decision was made by the Independent League of Escolas de Samba (LIESA) on Monday night.

In addition to this, there will be a change in the order of parades. Portela, which was to have paraded on Monday - along with all the other affected escolas - will parade on Sunday.

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Another brief report from O Globo, 7 Feb 2011:

The head of the Cidade do Samba, Aílton Guimarães Jorge Júnior, announced that the escolas are mountaing volunteer work parties to help their brothers who were hit by fire. For now, União da Ilha will use warehouse 7, which was unoccupied. According to him, Portela will use the central tent. Portela's floats will remain in the burned warehouse, with the approval of the Civil Defense.

On Monday evening at 7:00 pm, there was a meeting at Liesa's headquarters in Centro to decide the course of Carnaval 2011. According to Guimarães Júnior, no escola will be sent down this year.

Although Mangueira was not affected by the fire, Mangueira president Ivo Meireles offered assistance to the affected escolas. "It's horrible. It's heartbreaking, it's a true catastrophe. Anything Mangueira can do to help the other escolas, with materials or with labor, Mangueira will do. I'm here to offer my solidarity."

The honorary president of Beija-Flor also offered assistance from the escola of Nilópolis. "The work of a whole year was lost. You can't rebuild that in a day. Grande Rio doesn't have a chance of recovery. Whatever Beija-Flor can do, we will do to help the escolas that were hit."

Other escolas were also offering assistance in making the tripods (small three-wheeled floats) inside their own warehouses.

LIESA president Jorge Castanheira, who is in Minas Gerais, said in an interview with Bom Dia Rio that the scale of this loss, just a month from Carnaval, is unfathomable. According to him, each escola had probably invested about 5-7 million reais. But he added, "The problem is not just financial, it's the time needed to rebuild everything."

Details on fire losses of Portela, Grande Rio & Ilha

More news regarding the Cidade do Samba fire. Translated from O Globo by me.

PORTELA, GRANDE RIO AND UNIAO DA ILHA'S CARNAVALS ALMOST TOTALLY DESTROYED
by: Alice Fernandes, Rafael Galdo & Ana Carolina Torres

RIO- Insurance company representatives have already made an assessment of the escolas' losses due to the fire that hit four warehouses at the Cidade do Samba on Monday morning. Though the details of the losses are still not clear, members of Grande Rio estimate their losses at up to 10 million reais. In Portela, about 2800 fantasias were lost, according to Portela president Nilo Figueiredo. Uniao da Ilha's carnaval director Márcio André said that at least 2300 fantasias were burned, as well as one float and part of another.

The worst losses were in the warehouse of Grande Rio. According to Grande Rio members, 90% of their Carnaval materials were being made at the Cidade do Samba and all of these were lost. Seven floats caught fire, and four tripods (little parade floats) were also burned. The escola lost almost four thousand fantasias. Helinho de Oliveira, president of Grande Rio, said that the only surviving fantasias were about 500 costumes of five commercial alas [alas that take paying tourists - KH] that were not being made at the Cidade do Samba.

He said, however, that the escola will parade. Not with the Carnaval they had planned, but with all its members in the Avenida. "We haven't lost the dream of being champion in the next few years. The samba wasn't burned. Neither has our desire to parade. We'll be on the Avenida even if it's in t-shirts and Bermuda shorts with spangles. We'll show the "força" [force, guts, will] of Caxias," [Grande Rio's home town] said Helinho.

He said that the warehouse of Grande Rio had 12 firefighters battling the fire, six at a time taking turns. But it wasn't possible to contain the flames.

The carnavalesco of Grande Rio, Cahê Rodrigues, said that 98% of their Carnaval materials were ready. The fantasias had already been bagged for delivery to the members.

"I'm in a state of shock. We lost the fantasias of the baianas and the comissão de frente. It hasn't really sunk in. I'm only happy that there were no victims. My mother woke me at 7 am, and my "Good Morning" was to see on TV that my Carnaval was destroyed. What makes the sadness even worse is that everybody was saying that we were a strong candidate for the title." lamented Rodrigues. He added, "I don't know if in 29 days we are capable of a spectacle equal to what we had made. We had many important materials in the warehouse, and a lot of the technology had come from outside. [I think he means from outside Brazil - KH] Now it's all burned, destroyed. We'll do everything possible to reconstruct our Carnaval. The biggest problem is the morale of our workers," he said.

The flag-bearer of Grande Rio, Squel, who arrived at the Cidade do Samba in tears, pointed out that there was a lot of foam used in Grande Rio's Carnaval. She said that one float was entirely made of foam, which is highly flammable. "Practically the entire Carnaval of our escola was being made at the Cidade do Samba. The fantasias of the comissão de frente and the baianas were already done and all was lost. We thought that the Cidade do Samba was safer than this. How could the fire get through the walls?" she asked, trembling and crying.

Ilha And Portela Also Assess Losses

Ney Filardes, president of the escolas União da Ilha, said in a telephone interview with the news program "Bom Dia Brasil" (on Globo TV) that he would not lose his "alegria" [joy, happiness, good spirits]. "We had our workers [fighting the fire] and we also had a fire brigade. Now, it will be as God in Heaven wishes. We will never lose our alegria," said Ney, crying.

Ilha's carnavalesco, Alex de Souza, said that the escola lost many fantasias that were being made on the fourth floor of the warehouse and also a float of a gigantic spider. "We don't have any costumes for baianas or for the bateria. The float of the huge spider, which was the most talked-about float of our Carnaval, was also burned. I think we won't have our rehearsal in Sapucai next Saturday. I think our 3000 members will have to come to the Cidade do Samba and help rebuild our Carnaval."

As to the suggestion of mayor Eduardo Paes that no escola should be sent down this year, Alex said: "That's the very least that should be done. The situation of Grande Rio, for example, will be very difficult to fix. That escola doesn't have the minimum conditions to parade. [Escolas are heavily penalized and/or disqualified if they don't have certain minimum parade components, including a minimum number of floats - KH] But the result of Carnaval is not really important. First place goes to those who were asleep in the warehouses and escaped with their lives."

The carnavalesco of Portela, Roberto Szaniecki, said that after the loss of the fantasias, the directorship is now beginning to rethink their Carnaval plans so that the escola can parade in the Sambódromo. "At the moment, we're rethinking what we're going to do to have a new structure for the parade. Our escola has the capacity to recover, and this will show our "força"," he said. Portela is mounting a strong plan for re-making the fantasias. Directors of the escola and students from the escola's social-outreach project were invited by the first lady of the escola, Val Carvalho, to help make new fantasias, which will be made in the escola's rehearsal hall in Madureira.

"We've got over a thousand alumni, and they're all going to help the Blue-and-White. We still don't have the details on everything that was lost, but the fourth floor, the worst hit, had the most important costumes, like those of the bateria. The ala of baianas was also lost. But we will do our best and we will put our carnaval on the streets" said Val, who is head of Portela's costume workshop.

The queen of Portela's bateria, the actress Sheron Menezes, was in the Cidade do Samba watching the clean-up work, and said that she would help put the escola back on the Avenida. Her costume was being prepared on the fourth floor and was burned. "I'm here to help, I'm going to the quadra with everybody else to remake the parade," said the actress.

The escola had already begun the work of carrying damaged materials, and some floats that were not hit by fire were being moved out of the warehouse and carried to the central plaza of the Cidade do Samba.

The director of harmonia of Portela, Alex Fab, said that the only reason things weren't even worse was that there had been no deaths. He said that everybody who was sleeping in the warehouse managed to get out in time. "Our Carnaval was 100% destroyed. The scene is disastrous," he said.

Cidade do Samba hit by devastating fire

I'm kicking this blog back into gear today, two weeks before my next Carnaval trip to Rio, to report a devastating fire at the Cidade do Samba. The Cidade do Samba is the sprawling ring-shaped complex where all 12 Grupo Especial escolas build their magnificent floats and store most of their costumes. Early this morning, it was hit by a fire that badly affected three escolas, destroying all but one of Grande Rio's floats and 90% of their costumes; one float and the bateria, baiana, and 2nd-flag-couple costumes of União da Ilha (the "miracle escola" from Grupo A that just managed to hang on to its spot in Grupo Especial last year, due to the unexpected fall of Viradouro); and unspecified damage to Portela and the museum maintained by the Carnaval organizing group LIESA. Very fortunately, there were no fatalities and only minor injuries.

It is less than a month till the Carnaval parades. LIESA is in heated discussion now about whether to alter the parade, and, particularly, whether to suspend the usual rule that demotes the losing escola down to Grupo de Aceso - since the loser is now very likely to be Grande Rio.

I have seen escolas rebuild to an astonishing degree in just one week after losing floats and costumes to fire, but Grande Rio has lost quite a lot. In my circles Grande Rio is sort of the escola everyone loves to hate, but I think they will get quite an ovation if they can put together any kind of parade at all after this.

My translation of O Globo's first report today is below. Related articles to follow soon.

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HUGE FIRE HITS CIDADE DO SAMBA IN GAMBOA
by: Alice Fernandes, Rafael Galdo & Waleska Borges

Barely a month before Carnaval, a huge fire hit the Cidade do Samba, in the district of Gamboa, on Monday morning. The warehouses of Portela, União da Ilha, Grande Rio, and of Liesa (which maintains a museum of Carnaval), were hit by flames. General Commander of the firefighters Pedro Marco Cruz Macado said that by early afternoon the fire in the Cidade do Samba was under control and that only small fires were remaining. According to him, the firefighters had been fighting the fire since 7:30am. He said, as well, that no fault was found in the fire suppression system. He criticized the placement of a barbeque (churrasqueria) within the Portela warehouse, especially since the area is full of flammable materials.

According to firefighter Alexandre Rocha, the area is still closed until the Civil Defense can evaluate the building. A 30-year-old man was admitted to Souza Aguiar for smoke inhalation. He is doing well and is under observation.

Warehouse workers said, however, that the "sprinklers" [English] - little anti-fire water showers - did not work. About 80 men participated in the operation, with 20 fire trucks from seven firehouses. According to Alexander Rocha, the Cidade do Samba's annual fire inspection had not yet occurred this year. He also said that there is still a risk of more collapses.

According to witnesses, at least 60 people were inside the complex. The flames spread especially rapidly because of the large quantity of flammable materials. An enormous column of smoke, more than 500 meters tall, could be seen from as far as Niteroi. Passing motorists felt the effects of the smoke. The nearby elevated highway of Perimetral had slowed traffic due to rubber-necking by passing drivers.

The entire area of the enormous Cidade do Samba was closed, with firemen and ambulances arriving constantly. Part of the roof and part of the warehouse of Grande Rio collapsed. It is still not known what caused the fire, nor where it began. According to Portela workers, the fire started between 7:00 and 7:30am in the warehouse of União da Ilha. Yet workers from Ilha said that the fire started in the first warehouse, on the fourth floor, which is Liesa's. According to them, the flames descended through a hole through which the sculptures [the tallest parts of the parade floats] passed, and hit the Ilha float called the "Spider". The fourth floor is the sewing workshop and holds their costumes.

According to early reports, six of Grande Rio's floats and 90% of Grande Rio's costumes were destroyed. One worker from that escola jumped from the fourth to the third floor of the warehouse during the fire. 26-year-old aderecista [decorator, adornment-maker] Saimon Garcia said that he could not get down the stairs. He fell on top of a float and suffered only a few scratches. "The pain is nothing. What we've lost is millions and all of our work."

In União da Ilha, only the spider float was destroyed. The others were pulled out of warehouse just in time. Portela's workers have still not moved their floats. One group of aderecistas who were sleeping in Portela's warehouse described how they ran down the stairs. On the fourth floor were the fantasias [elaborate costumes] of the bateria, the second couple of mestre-sala and porta-bandeira, and the baianas. Several of the school's workers were in tears over the loss of these costumes.

União da Ilha had just moved to this warehouse this year. The escola had previously occupied the warehouse of São Clemente, but chose to move to the warehouse vacated by Viradouro, which was sent down [demoted from Grupo Especial] last year. The new warehouse had a superior infrastructure. In 1999, one month before Carnaval, União da Ilha was also hit by a fire. The escola succeeded in rebuilding its parade, with the theme "Barbosa Lima, 102 anos do sobrinho do Brasil", and paraded. In that year, the group finished in tenth place.

Over the weekend, the warehouse of the escola Alegria da Zona Sula, in Grupo de Acesso, also had to be evacuated due to a fire. [this warehouse is in a totally different location, not part of the Cidade do Samba complex.]

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