A 19-year-old student, volunteer firefighter in Gironde, was indicted and imprisoned this Sunday for “destruction by fire”, suspected of around thirty fire starts in the Médoc, indicated the public prosecutor of Bordeaux in a statement.
Arrested Friday morning, this young man from Lesparre-en-Médoc (Gironde) and volunteer firefighter in Soulac-sur-mer admitted “in part” his involvement during his police custody, according to the same source.
More than thirty fires
Justice accuses him of being at the origin of 31 fires which occurred between July 29 and August 21, which earned him to be prosecuted mainly for “destruction by fire of wood, forests, moors, maquis or plantations of others who may cause harm to persons”, acts punishable by fifteen years of criminal imprisonment.
During this summer period, around thirty fires “of a voluntary and criminal nature” had been observed “in a restricted geographical area of the north of the Médoc”, in Soulac-sur-mer, Le Verdon-sur-mer, Grayant-et -l’Hôpital, Saint-Vivien-de-Médoc and Vensac, according to the prosecution.
Nearly 45 gendarmes were mobilized during this period and the investigation carried out by the research brigade of the Lesparre company and the research section of Bordeaux.
Already confessions
According to the prosecution, the alleged arsonist “confirmed his confession” before the examining magistrate who served him on Sunday with his indictment. He was then placed in pre-trial detention, in accordance with the requisitions of the prosecution.
The Gironde was affected this summer by two major fires, in La Teste-de Buch (7,000 hectares in July) and Landiras (13,800 ha in July then 7,400 ha in August after a violent resumption of fire).