Of this house, more than a century old, on the Route de Marcays in the village of Caudecoste, all that remains are the stone walls, adorned with briquettes and Garonne pebbles. This Thursday, January 2, around 12:30 p.m., a medical assistant going to the home of his 77-year-old patient raised the alarm. A violent fire had engulfed this vast 250 m² dwelling, adjoining a shed large enough to house a boat hull. Flames more than five meters high escaped from the roof which eventually collapsed.
If the fight against the flames was long and dangerous for the thirty firefighters on duty, due to the risk of landslides and thick smoke, the worst was to be feared for the septuagenarian suspected of being inside. In fact, the occupant of the accommodation, bedridden in a room on the ground floor due to health problems, could not have left the house alone. Around 4 p.m., the feared outcome was confirmed with the discovery of a body.
“It’s a family known in the town”
The investigation, entrusted to the gendarmes of the Laplume brigade community, will have to determine whether it is indeed that of Dominique Bossus, occupant of the house ravaged by the disaster, in particular through DNA analyses. “This is a family known to the town,” indicated Mayor François Dailledouze present on site, confident that this type of call on the duty telephone is the one feared by all elected officials. The septuagenarian's relatives, “very present for her”, the councilor believes, have in turn been informed.
Flames more than five meters high escaped from the roof which eventually collapsed
-
Three fire trucks, three hoses, a water truck, a large ladder and a command post were deployed along the road facing the stone house, traffic of which was blocked by the gendarmes for good progress of extinguishing operations. An Enedis agent also went to the site to cut off the electricity in order to secure the premises.
A command post was set up on site.
Mathilde Curien
The legal phase will now take its course, to determine the exact circumstances of this outbreak of fire which cost the life of its resident.
