He first denied, then confessed everything, “Confronted with numerous testimonies collected by the investigators“. It is the prosecutor’s office of Privas which confirms it: the man arrested on Wednesday, because suspected of having lit eight to ten departures of fires between Lussas and Vogüé, is very guilty.
Aged 44, he was driving a dark-colored Ford 4X4, identified by various witnesses as being present on several fire starts. Alerted, the gendarmes patrolled on Wednesday morning in search of a potential arsonist. Five to seven starts of fires having been reported in the morning over an area of less than 10 square kilometers.
Arrested near Saint-Julien-du-Serre shortly before noon, the man was drunk at the time of the events and “presented a significant alcohol level during his arrest” specifies the prosecution. He had to be placed in a cell. sobering up before you can be heard. It will be presented on Friday before the investigating magistrate of the Privas court.
Some of the fires he lit joined on Wednesday at the start of the afternoon, creating a gigantic fire, the worst that the Ardèche has known for 20 years: 1,200 hectares were burned and more than 600 firefighters mobilized to come to terms with it. Four were slightly injured in the operation.