A fire engine. (drawing) – PHILIPPE HUGUEN / AFP
A fire “obviously voluntary” broke out in the night from Friday to Saturday in a primary school of
Gravelines (North), near Dunkirk, and three young people were placed in police custody, including two minors, we learned from the prosecutor. Help was called around 12:30 am, “for a fire involving the Anatole-France primary school, […] located on part of the roof ”, according to the departmental fire and rescue operational center (Codis) in the North.
The fire “was brought under control using a water hose” and this disaster “has no impact on the operation of the establishment,” said the firefighters. This fire was “clearly criminal, which will have to be confirmed by the investigation. […] A young person of 18 years and two young minors born in 2006 and 2007, were arrested in flagrante delicto, on the spot, shortly after the facts “, declared the public prosecutor of Dunkirk Sébastien Pive, specifying that their custody” could be prolonged ”beyond twenty-four hours.
The prosecution opened an investigation “for willful damage by fire, an offense punishable by ten years imprisonment”, continued the prosecutor, unable to communicate at this stage more elements “neither on the extent of the damage, nor on the circumstances, nor on the possible implications of those in custody ”. According to a police source, fire was set in front of the door of an annex to the school, destroying the roof of the building, but without damaging the rooms inside. A barricade on the roadway prevented access to help, according to this police source. When questioned, the prosecutor said he had “no information on this subject at this stage”.