Two fires, one of which was in a building, occurred during the night of December 5 to 6 in Vernon (Eure). Four police officers present at the scene were placed on oxygen and were hospitalized. An investigation is underway to determine the origin of the fires.
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Difficult night for the police and firefighters of Eure on the night of December 5 to 6 in Vernon (Eure).
According to information from Paris-Normandy, two fires occurred in Vernon (Eure) a few hundred meters from each other.
Four police officers present at the scene were hospitalized and criminal charges are being considered, according to the first elements of the investigation opened at the Évreux public prosecutor's office.
It was around 2:50 a.m. that a call was made to law enforcement and firefighters reporting a vehicle on fire near downtown Vernon.
When help arrives on site rue du Cendrier, the six firefighters present quickly managed to bring the blaze under control. However, the four police officers noticed that several trash cans had been placed near the vehicle, suggesting a fire of criminal origin.
About forty minutes later, the nightmarish night of the emergency services continued: a few hundred meters away, at 2 bis rue de la Poterie, an eight-story building was now on fire.
When they arrived on site, it was chaos: smoke, coming from the trash room where the fire started, invaded the floors above and some residents even said they were ready to jump.
Quickly, 22 new firefighters arrived as reinforcements to help their colleagues already on site but the panic continued to spread and the police evacuated the residents of the building as best they could.
Choosing to brave the danger without delay, the four police officers intervened to the aid of around forty residents while the fire was gradually brought under control.
The 22 firefighters who arrived a few minutes later intervened in turn and ultimately 55 people were evacuated from the building. Among them, five have disabilities.
When the fire was finally extinguished, the residents were sent to the Arc-en-Ciel school where they were housed for the night while four police officers were hospitalized and placed on oxygen after inhaling significant quantities of smoke.
They finally left the hospital a few hours later, around 10 a.m.
Although the incident ended without serious consequences, the mystery remains as to the origin of the two fires.
An investigation was opened to shed light on these isolated facts which did not “at this stage no link” between them, underlines to France 3 Normandie, Rémi Coutin, public prosecutor of Évreux.
However, the criminal trail remains considered by the police for these two events due to their geographical and temporal proximity.
