But what happened on Sunday for such a fire to devastate a building in Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes)? For the moment, the investigations are still in progress but a man suspected of being at the origin of this fire which cost the lives of three people has been remanded in custody, the Grasse prosecutor’s office announced on Friday.
Three people, two women and a man, lost their lives in this fire that started in the stairwell of a five-storey building located in the historic center of Grasse. They were still being identified on Friday, according to Grasse public prosecutor Damien Savarzeix. Three people were also seriously injured in the disaster, one of whom was still in “vital emergency” on Friday, he told AFP.
Traces of accelerant?
The suspect, aged 47 and with no criminal record, initially denied any involvement in the occurrence of the fire before evoking during his last police custody “a fire started involuntarily by the throwing of a bad cigarette extinct,” added the prosecutor.
“As for the questioning about the presence of traces of accelerant in the building: at this stage, this information is not confirmed”, noted the prosecution on Friday, adding that “the instruction must make it possible to specify the exact circumstances” facts.
The suspect, indicted on Tuesday, in particular for “willful damage by fire resulting in death”, had been arrested on Sunday evening. CCTV images had identified “an individual leaving the building two minutes before the cameras detected the start of a fire”, at 2:49 a.m. Sunday morning, according to a press release from the Grasse prosecutor on Monday.