Six people have been placed in police custody in the investigation into the fires which have already covered at least 2,050 hectares in the Fontainebleau forest, a former royal forest and artistic reserve near Paris, including a volunteer firefighter who admitted the facts, the Fontainebleau prosecutor announced on Tuesday.
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In addition to this volunteer firefighter in Fontainebleau who admitted to having “set fire to twigs with a lighter and gasoline”, a second suspect admitted “to having accidentally set a fire by throwing his cigarette” at another place where the fire started, the prosecutor, Diane Ngomsik, said in a press release.
The two men, born in 2007 and without a criminal record, are suspected of starting separate fires on Monday, in Arbonne-la-Forêt for the first, and in the Faisanderie sector near the town of Fontainebleau for the second, said the magistrate.
“No link between these two suspects has been established” and their police custody was extended, she added.
AFP
Two other men, one born in 1975 and unknown to the justice system, and the other born in 2005 and “already known to the justice system for traffic incidents”, are also in police custody, also suspected in the fire which broke out Monday afternoon and had covered 450 hectares on Tuesday at midday.
Two people were placed in police custody on Tuesday morning for the fire which started on Sunday around the A6 motorway between Paris and Lyon, causing the closure of a section of the motorway and which ravaged around 1,600 hectares in 48 hours.
Concerning this incident, “the hypothesis of a fire outbreak likely to be linked to work carried out in the immediate vicinity of the A6 motorway is the subject of in-depth checks”, underlined the Fontainebleau prosecutor, who recalls that the prosecution is exploring “all hypotheses, both accidental and voluntary”.
As of Monday morning, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez raised the possibility of a “voluntary origin” of this first fire.
AFP
“Decisive day”
By mid-afternoon on Tuesday, the approximately 800 firefighters involved were still hoping to put out the fires, which caused no casualties, by the end of the day.
“We are continuing the firefighter rotations to control fatigue a little,” Paul-Édouard Laurain, spokesperson for the local firefighters, told AFP.
If there are regular outbreaks of fire which generate “a small amount of activity”, it is “in any case nothing comparable to what we have experienced from the start”, he explained, also underlining the “real surge of solidarity” that he was able to observe from residents.
During a press briefing at midday, the prefect of the department where the forest is located, Pierre Ory, reported slightly more favorable weather and spoke of a “decisive day” after “a complicated night for the firefighters”.
While Monday was marked by gusts of wind, it had “generally died down”, he continued.
AFP
In the sky, four Canadairs, four bomber helicopters, a Dash dropping retardant and a command helicopter continue their aerial ballet, which they had to interrupt during the night.
Bulldozers were also used Tuesday to widen a track that penetrates the burning surface.
“The first evening was very stressful, the fire arriving on our houses, we were afraid that they would burn,” recalled to AFP Nicolas Tournier, resident of the town of Vaudoué, partly evacuated.
Currently staying with his partner with a municipal councilor, he is “patiently waiting to be able to return to (his) house when the fire is resolved”, praising the “exceptional work of the firefighters” and “the solidarity at work in the village”.
Burning smell
In the neighboring department of Loiret, many residents have reported burning smells, for example clearly perceptible in Orléans, although nearly 100 km from the Fontainebleau forest, noted an AFP journalist.
These numerous reports prompted the prefect of Loiret and the firefighters to broadcast messages calling on the public to “not clutter” the emergency numbers if they simply smell a burning smell.
The emblematic Fontainebleau forest massif, with its exceptional biodiversity, covers approximately 25,000 hectares, 60 km southeast of Paris. It welcomes more than 15 million visitors each year.
The fire in the Fontainebleau forest, in the northern half of the country until then relatively spared, demonstrates that no region is safe from these summer fires. Vegetation fires were set for Monday at Cap Fréhel in Brittany, or in Lozère.
