what we know about the violent fires
In a context of high temperatures in the southern half of the country, firefighters continued their fierce fight against several fires in the south-west and south-east of France on Friday.
In Gironde: the “privileged criminal thesis” for one of the two fires
Fanned by this extreme heat, two fires have burned some 7,700 hectares since Tuesday in the south-west of France and in particular near the very touristy Dune du Pilat. “The fires are still not defined and unfortunately the conditions are similar with suspicious winds for today,” explained fire commander Matthieu Jomain.
The two fires raging in La Teste-de-Buch near Arcachon, and in Landiras, in the south of the department, have not yet been brought under control. These two fires mobilize a thousand firefighters, have led to the evacuation of 11,300 people since Tuesday.
“The criminal thesis is privileged” in the investigation into the causes of the Landiras fire, said the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office, specifying “that all avenues continue to be explored” and that “no police custody is n ‘is in progress “. In the Landiras sector, about forty kilometers south of Bordeaux, 4,500 hectares of forest were burned.
In the case of the fire in La Teste-de-Buch, in the Arcachon basin, the authorities very quickly made the link with a broken down truck which had caught fire on a busy forest road. “The accidental thesis is privileged”, confirmed again this Friday the prosecution, specifying that “the expertise of the vehicle will take place Monday afternoon”.
Resumption of fire near Avignon, an open investigation
In the Bouches-du-Rhône, some 680 firefighters remained mobilized in the face of the fire which has hit the Montagnette massif since Thursday, south of Avignon, the mistral coming to complicate their work. If this blaze is now fixed, the wind caused a few flare-ups this Friday and the area covered is now 1,205 hectares.
“The SDIS13 remains mobilized on the 3 construction sites of the Montagnette massif, in Graveson and Tarascon with 630 firefighters in action”, specified on his Facebook account Lucien Limousin, the mayor of Tarascon.
The mayors of Graveson, Barbentane, Tarascon and Boulbon plan to file a complaint against the SNCF. It does indeed appear to be a faulty brake on a freight car that is causing sparks and starting fires. An investigation was opened for involuntary fire.
“According to testimonies, this freight train would have generated sparks on several occasions,” explained the Tarascon prosecutor. This train “caused nine fire starts”, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Bisone, saying that everything was “probably linked to a blocked brake shoe”.