With its calcined landscapes as far as the eye can see, the fire, which traveled 16,000 hectares of garrigue, conifers and cultures, 13,000 of which burned, in 48 hours, was mastered on Sunday but has not yet been extinguished.
It is the worst fire for at least 50 years in the French Mediterranean periphery, according to the government’s Forest Fire Database in France (BDIFF) which since 1973 lists the total area traveled by the flames.
An investigation was opened the day after the fire by the Aude gendarmerie services and the Montpellier research section. The Carcassonne prosecutor’s office, initially competent geographically, drew on August 9 for the benefit of the regional center of the Montpellier prosecutor’s office.
An anthropogenic origin
As the investigation continues, continues the prosecutor’s press release, “It appeared that this fire had an anthropogenic origin (due to humans, editor’s note)any natural cause being excluded“.
A 65-year-old woman was found dead at her home in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, a resident was seriously burned and a firefighter suffered a head trauma, among the 23 injured during this fire.