section_path: Fire
section_name: Fire
paragraph_text: Fire
  
  The fire was first reported at around 3:27 a.m. on 21 January 2025 TRT (UTC+03:00) at the Grand Kartal Hotel, which was hosting 238 guests, though several survivors and witnesses smelled smoke and saw flames as early as an hour prior at 2:30 a.m. The fire began in the hotel's kitchen/restaurant section on the fourth floor, before spreading upwards. The newspaper Sabah reported that the fire started due to hot oil on the grill catching fire during breakfast preparations. It was also claimed that the flames spread after the wrong intervention of the kitchen staff by pouring water. Another media outlet, citing an unofficial expert report, suggested that the fire originated from a wiring fault in the grill, however the findings were based solely on surveillance footage, with no evidence collected from kitchen staff. The fire's spread was reportedly exacerbated by the hotel's wooden exterior cladding.
  
  According to witnesses, no fire-detection system or fire alarms activated, leaving panicked guests attempting to escape via pitch-black smoke-filled corridors. A survivor complained that the hotel lacked any fire safety measures, such as smoke detectors or fire stairs. The Bolu engineers' and architects' union attributed the rapid spread of the fire to a lack of automatic sprinklers, which were mandatory and were to be installed in 2008 but were still absent, and the head of the Ankara Chamber of Architects reported from the site that there were no functioning emergency exit lights.
  
  Some guests tied together sheets and blankets to descend from their rooms through windows. Three people jumped from upper floors, only one of whom survived the fall. The intensity of the fire prevented onlookers from gaining access to the building. A hotel employee told CNN Turk that hotel management ordered staff not to alert guests or authorities while they attempted to manage the situation internally.
  
  Kartalkaya has no dedicated firefighting service. Approximately 267 emergency personnel, 30 fire trucks, and 28 ambulances were deployed to the scene from farther afield. Bolu Province governor Abdulaziz Aydın said they were delayed over an hour until 4:15 a.m. by freezing weather and the hotel's distance from Bolu municipality. The hotel's cliffside position also affected firefighting efforts. A field hospital was constructed nearby. Other hotels at the resort were precautionarily evacuated. According to Turkish interior minister Ali Yerlikaya, the hotel had two fire escapes. The fire was extinguished 12 hours later. Staff reported rescuing 30–35 people. Firefighters used ladders to rescue 50 people trapped in their rooms through windows in the hotel's front façade.
  
  It was claimed that Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) teams conducting search operations at the Grand Kartal Hotel wanted to stay at the hotel to rest, but the hotel management demanded a fee for accommodation.