The large Christmas market in Barcarès, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, was hit by a violent fire during the night from Sunday to Monday.
Gas cylinders exploded, ten chalets were destroyed.
A TF1 team went to the site.
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The 1 p.m.
Still on site this Monday morning, firefighters extinguished the last embers of the fire which broke out shortly after 4 a.m. The TF1 news video shows the Bacarès Christmas market on fire, with flames several meters high and explosions. In these images, gas cylinders explode and wooden structures collapse, one after the other. In total, 3,000 square meters and ten chalets went up in smoke in the restoration area. Around fifty firefighters intervened.
“The fire was very violent because these structures are stuck together.Captain Grégory Koral, operations commander of SDIS 66, tells our camera. So between the metallic radiation, between the wooden chalets, obviously the propagation was very, very rapid. As soon as we arrived, there was an impact that was really important“.
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Accidental or intentional fire? The origin of the disaster is not yet known. Whatever the case, for the inhabitants of Barcarès, very attached to this institution, waking up was difficult this Monday. “It's terrible for the Christmas village, it's a huge heartache“, assures one of them to our team. Another confides having worked there for four years: “Seeing this is catastrophic“.
The Barcarès Christmas market is one of the largest in the region. Its 200 chalets attracted 1,600,000 visitors last year. It was due to reopen its doors next Saturday. “The ideaindicates Michel Sitja, general director of services at the Barcarès town hall, it is that the investigation is carried out as quickly as possible, within a few days, so that we can clear all this rubble and open within ten days“.
