The images are impressive. The hall of the Gravelines basketball club (Elite) has been ravaged since this Monday at midday by a “violent fire”, indicated the firefighters of the North, and “everything went up in smoke”, specified the club to the AFP.
“There is no longer a basketball room, everything has gone up in smoke,” said the president of the Gravelines club, Christian Devos. “Forty years of life in Sportica have gone up in smoke,” he added. “The entire sports complex”, which also includes a swimming pool, a cafeteria and equipment, is affected by the flames, “with the exception of the commercial cells”, specify the firefighters.
Around sixty firefighters mobilized
At 4 p.m., more than 60 firefighters were mobilized to put out the fire ravaging the 3,000-seat room, which started around 12:45 p.m., according to the Sdis (Departmental Fire and Rescue Service) of the North. At 4:50 p.m., one injury was reported, a firefighter having broken a finger.
“If we had been in a period of high attendance at the swimming pool or if there had been training in the basketball room, it would have been catastrophic,” underlined Christian Devos. But “everything was closed, under maintenance. And there was no practice” for the basketball team when the fire started, he added.
Seventeenth and penultimate in Elite, Gravelines should have received Paris, current second, on Thursday. “The match will not take place,” regretted Christian Devos.