UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – The fire in Ardèche has been under control since Thursday evening, while a suspected arsonist has been indicted.
A suspect placed in police custody suspected of being at the origin of the fire starts in the Ardèche, an arsonist firefighter who confesses in the Hérault, the fire which stabilizes in the Alpes-de-Haute- Provence and Ardèche… Le Figaro takes stock of the fires that are ravaging French vegetation.
1200 hectares gone up in smoke, fires brought under control in Ardeche
The fire which ravaged 1,200 hectares in Ardèche was brought under control on Thursday evening, while a 44-year-old man admitted to having caused several fires to start. A “slight resumption of fire“related to the change of wind”burned between five and ten additional hectares” on the side of Lussas, but it was “master’s degree in progress“at 5:30 p.m. and currently”drowning“, declared to AFP Jean-Philippe Ladet, commander of the rescue operations of the SDIS. “A few small remaining fumaroles” are “always processed as and when“Adds the column leader. “We are on the right path“, He continues, recalling that the fires did not cause any victims or affect homes. Some 150 firefighters will remain mobilized on the ground overnight.
If the firefighters hope for a favorable drop in temperatures on Friday, the winds expected this weekend worry them. “Tomorrow is a day where we will have to make a lot of progress in the workto limit the risks, explains Commander Ladet.
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Fire in Ardèche: an alleged arsonist placed in police custody
With twelve simultaneous fire starts, Wednesday, in a reduced geographical radius, the authorities very quickly evoked an arsonist act. A suspect was taken into custody late Wednesday morning at the Largentière gendarmerie company.
The man, “who had a significant alcohol level when he was arrested“, confessed after being “confronted with numerous testimonies collected by the investigators“establishing his presence and that of his car on the start of the fires, according to a press release from the Privas prosecution.
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Hérault: a volunteer firefighter admits having caused firesfor adrenaline»
The volunteer firefighter from Hérault, who admitted to being the author of several fires, was indicted on Thursday July 28 and remanded in custody, the Montpellier prosecutor’s office told France Info. Heard by the gendarmes of the Lodève research brigade, in the north of the department, the man had “admitted having caused, by using a lighter, the outbreak of fire noted on May 26 in Privat, that of July 21 in Saint-Jean-de-la-Blaquière, as well as the four outbreaks of fire on the night of July 26 to 27 in the same town»explained in a press release the prosecutor of Montpellier, Fabrice Bélargent.
The prosecutor once again clarified that the man was not implicated in the major fire which burned 800 ha on Tuesday around Gignac, also in Hérault, which is the subject of a separate judicial investigation. favoring “the criminal hypothesis“. The man, who exercises the profession of forester, in addition to being a volunteer firefighter, on the other hand also indicated that he was the author of “several fires lit in the last three years” in Saint-Jean-de-la-Blaquière, where he lives and where he is a member of the municipal council, added Fabrice Bélargent, who did not reveal his identity.
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200 firefighters mobilized in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the fire stabilizes
In the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence where a fire covered 300 hectares in the town of Rougon, on the heights of the Verdon Regional Natural Park, the situation is stabilizing. The fire is no longer progressing thanks to the work of the 200 firefighters on site reinforced Thursday at the start of the afternoon by helicopter detachments from the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes supported by three helicopters including two water bombers, according to the prefecture. Some 400 people had been preventively evacuated from a campsite in Castellane in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in the face of the progression of the fire. Vacationers will however be able to return to the site given a “favorable development”according to the same source.
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Fire fixed in the Hérault
Earlier Wednesday, a fire that burned 800 hectares of vegetation near Montpellier could be fixed. “There were no casualties and no homes were affected by the fire.“, announced at the end of the afternoon the prefecture of Hérault. The prefecture has lifted its crisis unit. As a precaution, some 130 out of 500 inhabitants of the Aumelas sector had been preventively evacuated for the night. Wednesday, allwere able to return home“, according to the authorities.
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