Is a man intentionally the cause of one of the worst fires in France? While the fire is not extinguished in Gironde, a suspect has already been apprehended. In a press release, this Monday evening, the Bordeaux public prosecutor announced the placement in police custody of a man as part of the investigation into the Landiras fire which has burned 10,500 ha of forest since Tuesday. .
An investigation had been opened for “destruction by fire of wood, forest, moor, maquis or plantation of others which could cause damage to people”. Facts for which the authors incur up to 15 years in prison and 150,000 euros in fines. For almost a week, more than 1,600 firefighters have been fighting two fires which have ravaged, this Monday evening, the equivalent of 20,000 football stadiums.
An arrest which follows in particular a testimony, explains the press release of the prosecutor. “A mechanic who was traveling with his daughter observed (…) a vehicle parked on the side which started quickly in his sight, details the prosecution. When he arrived at the parking lot, the witness noticed that the fire was spreading. He stopped and tried in vain to turn it off”.
An arrest which goes in the direction of the criminal track which had been envisaged for several days. “Criminal identification technicians were able to make findings that accredit a deliberately malicious act,” confirms the prosecutor.
A link with other fire outbreaks in the same area will be studied.
Investigators from the Langon research brigade are now looking into a possible link with “other fire starts observed in the area on the same day but at different times”. Even if for the time being, no formal element makes it possible to eliminate or retain the thesis of the same author. Expert appraisals and witness hearings are continuing in parallel.
With regard to the other huge hearth, “these facts are not of a criminal nature and are part of a context of involuntary crime” details the prosecutor, who explains that the vehicle at the origin of this fire is still not not accessible to experts “in view of the violence of the disaster”.
Another suspect trying to start a fire in the Landes
Finally, in the neighboring department, according to our information, on July 15 and 16, several fires that occurred in the undergrowth in Moustey (Landes) and some fifty meters away had been reported. After being quickly circumscribed by the firefighters, the first elements of the investigation made it possible to discover “firing systems made up of toilet paper soaked in flammable products”.
As an extension of their investigation, the police were able to trace a suspect whom they will arrest. The man, mentally retarded and housed in a home for people with disabilities, admitted the facts when he was placed in police custody. A psychiatric expertise revealed “an alteration of discernment”.