While the investigation to determine the causes of the terrible fire of the Corbières is only in its infancy, Alain Coste, mayor of Ribaute, where the fire started on August 5, gives his point of view on the circumstances of the drama and said it was to favor the criminal track for the time being.
The idea of a megot jet had been put forward as a track as a track to explain the reasons for the departure of what will be the fire of the century in the Corbières with no less than 16,000 hectares traveled by flames in 16 municipalities.
The fire had started around 4:15 p.m. in the town of Ribaute on Tuesday August 6, on the edge of the departmental road 212, allowing to envisage this hypothesis of the megot as credible.
A start of fire 8 to 10 meters above the road
It would ultimately be not according to Alain Coste, the mayor of Ribaute. Contacted this Tuesday, August 12 by the editorial staff of the Independent, the latter admits that “the track of a megot of thrown cigarette no longer holds up”. An intimate conviction which, according to him, would also be that of investigators made up of gendarmes, agent of the National Forest Office and Firefighters gathered around the cell seeks the causes and circumstances of the fire (RCCI). “The start of the fire was located precisely. It is 50 meters before the tunnel and 8 to 10 meters above the road. A megot could not be there”.
The first magistrate favors the thesis of a voluntary act and that the incendiary would have lit the fire on this path before fleeing or hiding.
Read also:
Violent fire in Aude: drones and artificial intelligence, new allies for firefighters
For the past few days, after obvious difficulties due to the many aid present in the sector, the survey of the area can be carried out normally.
If the investigation, initially, was carried out under the authority of the Carcassonne prosecution, we learned this Tuesday August 12 of the judicial court of the prefecture city that the latter has diverted “to Profit of the regional environment center within the Montpellier prosecution with regard to the nature of the facts and the extent of the damage suffered“.
A change that is allowed by law given the “exceptional” involvement to nature and irreversible consequences of the damage caused by this fire, the regional environment center, thus being much more extensive in this area to direct investigations.
The gendarmes in charge of the investigation were able to question the inhabitants of Ribaute and those in the village. On the other hand, they will not be able to benefit from images of video surveillance cameras. “This event motivates me all the more to consider their facilities in a future budget” admits Alain Coste who also confirms “That the survey may be long because it requires a lot of precision”.