A fire in a wooded area and scrubland, located about twenty kilometers from Montpellier (Hérault), burned over more than 700 hectares on Tuesday July 26. The authorities asked the inhabitants of a village to evacuate the scene and two firefighters were slightly injured. Follow our live.
Several fire starts recorded at the start of the day. The firefighters have been working since the end of the morning on two fire starts, separated by 1.5 km, which broke out in the municipalities of Saint-Bauzille-de-la-Sylve, Gignac and Aumelas, in a sparsely populated area. The two fires then met, added the prefecture.
A judicial inquiry opened. The Montpellier prosecutor’s office decided in the evening to open a judicial inquiry. The criminal track is favored because of the proximity of the two fire starts in the department of Hérault.
Nearly 600 firefighters mobilized. “In total, nearly 600 firefighters are engaged, including columns of zonal reinforcements. Two Canadair and 1 Dash are also deployed, as well as two airframe aircraft departmental firefighters of Hérault. The departmental roads D139 and D114 are still closed to traffic”, specifies the prefecture of Hérault in a point of situation, Tuesday evening.