“it’s thanks to you that the cries of my 5 children still flood our house”

In Dijon, in February 2024, three PSIG gendarmes saved a family of 5 children from a house fire. The father, Maxime, sent a moving letter to the gendarmes to thank them for their bravery. Four months later, both parties return to this story which ended well.

The bravery of these three gendarmes from the PSIG (surveillance and intervention platoon) of Dijon is rewarded in two ways. By congratulations from their superior, but above all by the touching thanks of Maxime, the father of the family they saved. These five children drew our front page photo to express their gratitude to the officers, who avoided a potential tragedy.

February 2024, it is around midnight. While carrying out a night patrol, the three gendarmes of the PSIG of Dijon discovered two cars on fire, in front of two terraced houses.

“We came across it by chance during a patrol. We couldn’t put out the fire. Our priority was to directly shelter people in homes“, confides Thomas, one of the three gendarmes.

The police separate to manage the situation. Mehdi calls the firefighters while Thomas and Bryce go to warn the occupants of the two houses.

Maxime, father of a family of five young children, living in one of the two houses, remembers: “I hear a pounding on the door. It was around midnight, everyone was asleep, I put on shorts, I opened the door and I saw a gendarme who told me to evacuate because there was a fire.”

A former Paris firefighter, the local resident is no less shocked.

When it happens to you, it’s different. We were very afraid for the children.

Maxime will try to put out the fire with his garden hose, but it’s a wasted effort: “LThe car’s windows had already exploded from the heat and the fire had started to spread.”

Constable Thomas keeps his cool and helps evacuate the family. A traumatic event for the five children: “When the children came out, it was the height of the fire, the flames were beyond the house. It was traumatic for the children, and even for us“, remembers Maxime.

Everything happens very quickly. In just ten minutes, the fire began to enter the garage and attack the house. The fire rises towards the children’s bedrooms.

It was impressive, I felt the flames on my back.

Fortunately, quickly called by the police, the firefighters arrived to prevent the situation from getting out of control. Once the evacuation of the residents is complete, the gendarmes take care of calming everyone down and establishing a security perimeter, to prevent the 40 people on site from approaching the fire.

If the PSIG members had arrived five minutes later, the evacuation may not have been possible. “OI owe them my life and it was important to me that they knew it. I wrote a letter to thank them for their professionalism”, declares Maxime.

Thank you, because it is thanks to you that even today, the cries of my children and the smile of my wife flood our house and I am the first spectator.

This letter, addressed to the police, is not insignificant. Law enforcement is not used to being thanked. “When I read the letter, it was really moving”admits Thomas, PSIG gendarme, “It’s really nice that our work is noticed, even if for us, we haven’t done anything extraordinary.”

The members of the PSIG believe that they have just accomplished their job, and “did what any fellow policeman would have done“.

For the father of the family, they did more than that : “SO no gentlemen, this evening, you didn’t just do your job. I ask you to please put aside your humility for a brief moment in accepting our most sincere thanks. A united, healthy family. These are the direct consequences of your actions, without which I can assure you that the results would have been dramatic.”

Maxime believes it was important to thank them: “To show them that there are still people who support them, so that they keep their motivation and their heart.”

A successful mission for the former firefighter, this letter was a “morale boost”:“We are seen with a repressive side but we are also there to help the population. We felt useful,” admits Thomas, the gendarme in charge of Maxime’s house.

The 7 members of the family were relocated for a month with the grandparents, while waiting for the cleaning and major work to be done in their house.

“At first it was complicated, we were worried about who did it, if it was intentional or not. I have a six year old daughter, at that age we ask ourselves a lot of questions. Now we have a security system, everything is starting to return to normal even if there is still work to be done“, explains Maxime.

An investigation is still underway to discover the origin of the fire.

The three gendarmes, for their part, were congratulated by General François Santarelli, second in command of the Burgundy-Franche-Comté gendarmerie, on the occasion of the colors ceremony in June.

If the fire can have a positive side, it is that a good relationship seems to be established between the family and the police. “We can’t wait to see them again.”breathes the father of the family.