For several weeks, fires have ravaged part of our coasts. Landes and Gironde were unquestionably the most affected, with several thousand hectares destroyed by the flames. Brittany, generally spared during the summer period by this type of bad weather, was also the prey of fire, particularly in the Monts d’Arrée region. In Ardèche, nearly 1200 hectares have gone up in smoke. In Roussillon, the department of Hérault was not spared either since Wednesday July 27, 2022, a fire ravaged nearly 1000 hectares of vegetation near Montpellier. This Thursday, July 28, we have just learned that a firefighter himself is at the origin of this environmental tragedy.
The volunteer firefighter from Hérault in police custody since Wednesday admitted to being the author of several fires, explaining his actions by the adrenaline rush they caused and a need for “social recognition”, said Thursday the Montpellier public prosecutor’s office. Heard by the gendarmes of the Lodève research brigade, in the north of the department, he “admitted having caused, by using a lighter, the start of fire noted on May 26 in Privat, that of July 21 in Saint -Jean-de-la-Blaquière, as well as the four fire starts on the night of July 26 to 27 in the same town”, explained in a press release the Montpellier prosecutor, Fabrice Bélargent.
The prosecutor also once again clarified that the volunteer firefighter was not implicated in the major fire that burned two days ago, 800 hectares also in the Hérault. The man, who confessed to his crime, works as a forester, in addition to being a volunteer firefighter. He nevertheless also specified that he was at the origin of “several fires lit in the last three years” in Saint-Jean-de-la-Blaquière, where he lives and where he is a member of the municipal council, added Fabrice Bélargent, who n however, did not reveal his identity.
CT
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