Local press footage shows flames escaping from the roof. Since 6 a.m. this Friday morning, the building of French Office for Biodiversity of Brest (Finistère) is on fire. Alerted in the early morning by neighbors, the firefighters managed to control the fire, announced the prefecture of Finistère “despite the very strong winds blowing in the sector”. The state services specify that their building “remains under close surveillance” and evokes a fire “starting from the attic”. The day before, the premises of the OFB had been the scene of a major demonstration by angry fishermen. The building had been the target of distress flares.
The balance sheet is heavy on the material level. The attic is “completely destroyed” and the second floor is “very badly damaged” according to the prefecture. Could the fire be linked to the demonstration on Thursday? Embers or ashes were able to smolder and, fanned by the violent wind which blew all night, caused the fire to start in the attic. “It is the most probable hypothesis but it remains a hypothesis”, declared Jean-Philippe Setbon, sub-prefect of Brest. A judicial inquiry will be opened by the Brest prosecutor’s office, underlines the prefecture.
The Finistère fisheries committee, which had multiplied calls for peaceful action on Thursday, expressed its “dismay” at the images of the fire. “Our first reaction is to strongly condemn acts of violence and destruction whoever the perpetrators of these acts. Nothing should and can justify this! “, writes the organization in a press release.