Gendarmerie investigation opened after the fire at the former Beaulieu clinic in Cambo-les-Bains

An accident or a criminal act. The gendarmerie opened an investigation after the fire which broke out on Sunday June 19, 2022 at the end of the afternoon, in the town of Cambo-les-Bains. The investigations are carried out by the community of brigades of ustaritz and the research brigade of the company of bayonne. It is the roof of the old “Beaulieu clinic” which was almost completely destroyed. A disaster that did not claim any victims since the site has been abandoned since 1995. The medical establishment is nothing more than a heap of ruins, regularly squatted, but significant resources in men and materials have been sent to the site in order to control the blaze. Firefighters noted the start of two simultaneous fires. What raise a number of questions, while the site has just been bought by EPFL. The Local Public Land Establishment is an EPIC (Public Establishment of an Industrial and Commercial Character).

Inheritance not possible

The clinic has been closed for over 25 years. It was however the jewel of the medical establishments of the commune. It had, a rare thing, its own operating room, and even a small chapel whose stained glass windows are still in good condition. A fine specialist in the sector specifies that “meals were made by great chefs and served every Friday in the dining room”. But the succession will turn into a nightmare. The site is derelict and squatters regularly live there. The degradation is rapid.

two million euros

For the sum of two million euros, EPFL acquired the six-hectare site with the premises of the former clinic, the outbuildings and the park. The sale was formalized on December 22, 2021 with the liquidator and before an auction before the court of Bayonne. The mayor of Cambo-les-Bains, Christian Devèze explains that “the site will be developed before the end of the mandate, and not only with housing”. The story of the Beaulieu Clinic will then be definitively over.