A 41-year-old man suspected of having deliberately started a fire in Calce (Pyrénées-Orientales) on Tuesday must be tried in immediate appearance on August 26, the prosecution announced on Friday July 10.
In police custody since Tuesday, this man, already convicted in particular for offenses against drug legislation, was placed in pre-trial detention pending his judgment for “damage or deterioration of the property of others by a means dangerous to people”, indicates in a press release the public prosecutor of Perpignan, Jérôme Bourrier.
On the other hand, the police custody which began on Thursday of a 49-year-old man, suspected of being voluntarily at the origin of a vegetation fire which burned 40 hectares in Perpignan and Rivesaltes, must be extended on Friday, he further notes in his press release.
Other human-caused fire investigations
Jérôme Bourrier also specifies that the cause of the fire of July 2 in Canet-en-Roussillon and Sainte-Marie-la-Mer, which notably led to the evacuation of 3,000 people before being fixed by the firefighters the next day, is of human origin, without it being known whether it is an accident or a voluntary act. “All hypotheses remain studied,” he writes.
As for the Trévillach fire, which the firefighters were about to bring under control on Friday, according to the prefect, “all hypotheses remain considered (…) including that of a malicious act”, according to the Perpignan public prosecutor. This fire, which broke out on July 4, covered 4,900 hectares, leading to the evacuation of up to 12,000 people.
