A fire broke out on Monday, December 2 late in the morning in a building in Louviers (Eure), during which two people were seriously injured. The victims were hospitalized as an absolute emergency. An investigation is open, criminal charges are being considered.
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It was late in the morning, around 11:47 a.m. this Monday, December 2, that a fire broke out on the fourth floor of the Hortensia building, located rue de Belgique, in Louviers in Eure.
Requiring the intervention of around forty firefighters, the fire was brought under control by emergency services, but seriously injured three people and caused serious damage to the structure of the building.
The municipal police have opened an investigation, the possibility of arson is being considered.
Firefighters rescued three people, including a 21-year-old man and his 39-year-old mother, who had taken refuge on the balcony of their fourth-floor apartment.
Evacuated with her son by the firefighters using an articulated lifting arm, the woman voluntarily threw herself from the basket during the emergency intervention, according to Rémi Coutin, public prosecutor of Evreux. The firefighters then tried to resuscitate her on the ground, before hospitalizing her in absolute emergency at the Rouen University Hospital.
His son was also admitted in absolute emergency to the Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf hospital, after inhaling smoke. Another 40-year-old woman was hospitalized in an emergency in Louviers.
In the presence of the police, Enedis, the gendarmerie and the mayor of Louviers, emergency services also evacuated 22 people living in the building.
In total, all thirty apartments in the five-story building were damaged by the fire.
The structure of the building having been strongly impacted by the flames, the evacuees were temporarily housed in the city sports hall. According to the Eure departmental fire and rescue operational center, firefighters quickly intervened on the scene and brought the flames under control using a water hose.
Although the exact origin of the fire remains to be determined, a police investigation was nevertheless opened by the Evreux public prosecutor, and entrusted to the Val de Reuil police station.
Still according to the magistrate, the 39-year-old mother hospitalized in absolute emergency would be the author of the fire that she started from her apartment in the presence of her son, with the idea of committing suicide. A desire that she would have renewed by throwing herself from the basket of the fire truck at the height of the fourth floor during its evacuation.
