Without his neighbour’s presence of mind, Raymond Depardon would have found his archives in ashes… or drowned. A fire was indeed declared at the beginning of August in the house of the famous French photographer.
“In the attic are stored the photos of my whole life,” explained Raymond Depardon, who keeps more than a million negatives and 300 albums. The start of the fire was caused by lightning which fell on the roof of this house in the Paris region on the night of August 4 to 5, in the absence of the owner.
“The firefighters arrived very quickly, and the neighbor had the presence of mind to tell them that there were photos and that water should not be used,” continued Raymond Depardon. The firefighters then used dry ice to put out the fire, which was taken care of very early.
“Apart from a few photos”, the pictures did not suffer any damage. “But the firefighters told me that within a quarter of an hour, everything was burning,” continued the photographer, who now intends to invest in a lightning rod. The fire still caused significant damage to the roof and the office in the attic of the house, according to images published by the photographer on Instagram, accompanied by thanks to the firefighters.