The fire of an exceptional magnitude which made one dead and two seriously injured in the Aude“could have a criminal cause resulting from a voluntary act“Said the public prosecutor of Montpellier.
THE “Experts believe that with regard to the starting conditions of the fire, it could have a criminal cause resulting from a voluntary act. However, this first expertise necessarily requires being confirmed by additional investigations“He added in a press release.
The fire left Tuesday, August 5, around 4:15 p.m. along the DR212 which links Lagrasse to Ribaute.
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 Mediterraneandepending on the database
government of forest fires in France (BDIFF) which since 1973 lists the total area traveled by 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.
As the investigation continues, continues the prosecutor’s press release, “It appeared that this fire had an anthropogenic origin, any natural cause being excluded“.
“A college of two investigating judges was seized given the human, environmental and material consequences of this fire“, concludes the press release.
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.
