After the fire in her workshop, Christine Sauzeau tries to rebuild herself with the help of colleagues

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Christine Sauzeau no longer even has tears when she looks at the blackened walls. “It was my retirement,” simply notes the entrepreneur who lost everything in June during the CZ Atelier fire.

Upholsterer since 2012, Christine Sauzeau continues to work, even if few people know it. “I see cars stopping, but since the building is burned, they leave. Even deliveries, I have to go out to stop trucks that are turning around. »

A devastating fire

Established in Aizenay in 2018, she built, with her own funds, a premises in the artisanal zone of the route de Challans. In June 2024, the tragedy occurred. “Apparently it would be a battery from a screwdriver which would have exploded, a device which was not even charging. »

Experts favor this theory. In total, 250 m² walls are buckling. “Inside, I had foam, fabric…” recalls Christine Sauzeau to explain the fiery conflagration. Since then, she has survived as best she can.

Solidarity

Six months later, the remaining walls evoke memories of a brighter time. The entrepreneur only manages to keep her head above water thanks to her neighbors, other artisans.

“They were really great. There is Nicolas who lent me a piece of land so that Damien lends me a modular to place on it. I bought a supplement for the workshop. But when you’re little, you realize that you’re not much…”

Her sign, the only thing she has left from her former life as a boss, remains on the ground. “I can’t hang it on the modular, it’s not mine. I’m not going to damage it…” She, on the other hand, feels damaged.

Work envisaged

However, a clearing appears in the distance. “The insurance companies tell me that I could perhaps do it again work in June 2025. The screed is not necessarily too destroyed by the fire. Then we would have to remove the rest and rebuild. » But this work does not mean replenishing its funds. “At the moment, I’m not earning anything. I had to buy equipment that had burned. Repay. »

Christine Sauzeau continues to work, only thanks to the generosity of others. But if the coming months do not have a favorable outcome, his will to continue will probably not be enough.

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