A plastic tape bars the entrance to the garage. The paint on the door has turned gray. Inside, everything was reduced to ashes. Fortunately, the flames did not spread to the twenty or so apartments in the Tucaut residence, Saint-Simon district in Toulouse. It was December 12th. Quickly, the author of this fire was identified. He was “picked up” by the police two days after the disaster.

Given the seriousness of the facts, the criminal justice response was exemplary. On December 16, he was tried in immediate comparison before the Toulouse court. The magistrates have follow-up of the requisitions of the public prosecutor. The arsonist was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended.

If the worst has been interrupted, the damage is serious. In addition to the destroyed garage, the pipes have melted under the effect of the heat, the nearby boxes will have to be renovated and the black common areas will have to be treated by the disaster.

The bill is high for Toulouse Métropole Habitat (1), the social landlord who manages the residence. Between cleaning, decontamination and recovery of garage doors, the organization will have to pay the tidy sum of 12,500 euros. Since 2019, the structure that manages approximately 19,000 social housing didn’t have to face only three times to fires of arson. Most of the time it’s a deep fryer that catches fire, a hob that you forget to turn off or even an overheated electric garland that causes this kind of disaster.

Insurance has increased by 50% in two years

In three years, the social landlord a registered 20 fires in all of its housing stock. Even if there is a slight setback last year, the trend is not good. Repairs exceeded 1.5 million euros. Bertrand Serp, the president of Toulouse Métropole Habitat is concerned about this: ” This has a direct impact on our finances and contributes to limiting our ability to build new housing. Deductibles are very high and insurance premiums keep rising. They have taken 50% in two years! This could ultimately lead insurance companies to no longer want to insure us… I call on our residents to be extra vigilant. The development of video surveillance, we will go from 200 cameras to 500 in two years, should also have a deterrent effect against arson attempts.

(1) Holder of Toulouse Métropole Habitat 30% of the social housing of the Toulouse conurbation.