Six trucks from the Gard Food Bank went up in smoke during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
In shock, the association’s leaders denounced “a criminal act”.
A TF1 team went to the site.
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The 1 p.m.
Of the six trucks from the Gard Food Bank, all that remained this Thursday morning were the charred carcasses. “There is nothing that is salvageable. We see in the state where the refrigerated ones were put…“, sighs at this sad spectacle Joseph Pronesti, the president of the association. In total, 500,000 euros went up in smoke. Joseph Pronesti was one of the first on the scene that night. “I called Elisabeth, the vice-president, to inform her, but I was crying like a child. Not for me, but for all the volunteers, the families who are in need… I can’t understand“.
The fire broke out around 11:45 p.m. Quickly, around twenty firefighters and five vehicles were mobilized to control the flames. A violent and arson fire, according to the president of the association. “LThe neighbor who has video surveillance last night saw someone set fire to our vehicles. It is a criminal acthe assures. Destroying equipment like that, when it serves thousands of people, I don’t understand“. On the video surveillance images that the TF1 teams were able to recover, a man is visible a few moments before one of the trucks burst into flames, as you can see in the video at the top of this article.
“The surge of solidarity is there”
This Thursday morning, at the Gare de Nîmes market where the fire occurred, Yacine Jouini, president of “L’école solidaire de l’spérance”, discovered the damage. “Vehicles in themselves are equipment. But what it represents… it’s not normal. It hurts my heart“, he said. The trucks were empty at the time of the fire, but they collect seven tonnes of food every day, the equivalent of 13,000 meals distributed.
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For several hours, solidarity has been organizing. Alexis Es Sebbar, from the Es-Sebbar Sabatier fruit and vegetable company, lent one of his trucks to ensure collection. “It’s to help people who need it. We have spare trucks, we always have a backup truck. It’s not a problem“, he comments. “This surge of solidarity, it is there, it is presentgreets the vice-president of the Gard Food Bank, Elisabeth Cres. And there, we feel it even more. Really, it warms the heart“. This year, 45,000 people benefited from meals provided every day by the Gard Food Bank.
