November 22, 2024 at 3:42 p.m.
The Gers Gendarmerie opened an investigation after the fire at a radar on departmental road 931 during the night from Thursday to Friday. The radar was completely destroyed by the flames.
Firefighters intervened during the night from Thursday to Friday for a roadside fire on the D931 in Gazaupouy, north of Condom. The fire involved an automatic radar, which was completely destroyed by the flames. This “old generation” radar, like many other radars in the department, had been wrapped by farmers from the Rural Coordination a few weeks ago, with bales of straw and tractor tires. The fire also started from the bales of straw which covered the equipment. The Gers agricultural union, through its president, Lionel Candelon, declines all responsibility for this fire, the criminal origin of which is beyond doubt, and strongly condemns this act. “It is absolutely not in our methods. And it is certainly not now, even with agricultural anger, that we are going to move to methods like that. When we have taken actions targeting radars, we has never damaged anything. We completely disassociate ourselves from this act and we hope that the author of this fire will be quickly arrested by the police to be sentenced.
A precedent this summer on the RN 21
This summer, an automatic radar located along the RN 21 had already been vandalized. The radar had been cut by the mast, found lying in the ditch. The Prefect was keen to point out “that the destruction, damage or deterioration of a radar is punishable by five years' imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros (article 322 of the penal code). The sanction is increased to seven years of imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros when the offense is committed by several people or when it is committed by a person hiding their face in order not to be identified.”
E.R
