L'Innovation department store fire

[1] More than 150 firefighters were mobilised to fight it, 251 people were killed, 62 injured,[2] and the department store itself, the work of the Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta, was destroyed.

"[5] An exhibit featuring American merchandise that began on 5 May and included blue jeans, barbecue equipment and paper dolls[6] had created outrage among a pro-China group called "Action for the Peace and Independence of Peoples."

Many shoppers rushed to windows, since the main stairway was enveloped in thick black smoke, while some jumped to their deaths before fire ladders arrived.

The origin of the fire was a source of confusion, with store management first stating that the inferno began in the first-floor children's wear department.

A Belgian art historian who lost his parents in the fire published a novel about the history of the event and included testimonies from survivors, called Happening.