Nearly 7,000 hectares ravaged by flames, two deaths, around thirty injured and more than 1,200 firefighters on the ground to fight this fire for more than a week… In mid-August 2021, part of the Maures massif was ravaged by a huge fire.
At the time, a judicial investigation had been opened. After a year and a half of investigation, a suspect was indicted. It was a cigarette smoked by this man, on August 16, 2021, on the Sigues motorway rest area on the A57, near the town of Gonfaron, which is believed to be the cause of the disaster.
We thought the investigation was closed, but this week, the Draguignan prosecutor’s office asked the two investigating judges in charge of the case for new investigations, according to our colleagues from France Bleu Provence.
Question marks
The public prosecutor actually wanted to go further.to check whether everything had been implemented beforehand in terms of fire risk prevention.
The prosecution wants “understand what arrangements the Vinci motorway company had taken to maintain this rest area“.
Another area to clarify, “the legal obligation to clear brush which had clearly not been respected in the hamlet of Val de Gilly – the very place where two people died – even though it is up to the mayor of the commune to enforce it”.
