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.