the essential
Difficult awakening on this New Year’s Day for the village of Bruniquel (Tarn-et-Garonne), scene of a violent house fire during the evening of New Year’s Eve. A house built of straw and wood was completely consumed by the flames, despite the intervention of around thirty firefighters. Luckily, there was no one there at the time of the disaster but the owner lost everything.
New Year’s Eve was short for the Tarn-et-Garonne firefighters engaged on a large house fire since Tuesday evening, December 31 in Bruniquel.
A house located Chemin du Pech, on the hills overlooking the medieval village towards the hamlet of Saint-Maffre and Puygaillard-de-Quercy, fell prey to the flames. The alert was given at 7:13 p.m., quickly mobilizing large firefighting resources from six emergency centers: Caussade, Nègrepelisse, Monclar-de-Quercy, Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, Corbarieu and Montauban, under the authority of an officer of the SDIS 82 column leader.
This Wednesday morning, January 1, the intervention is not yet finished. “The pavilion has partly collapsed. Therefore, rubble continues to burn deep down. It was therefore necessary to maintain a surveillance system on the site in order to avoid any risk of the fire resuming. Four personnel are still engaged”, indicates the room manager of the CODIS 82 alert processing center.
Tuesday evening, 26 firefighters fought this violent disaster which set this 100 m2 pavilion comprising one floor ablaze. The rescue task was made difficult due to the characteristics of this house, built of compressed straw and wood, with a metal roof.
When the fire broke out, she was not at home, she had gone to New Year’s Eve. Today, she finds herself with nothing, she has lost everything.
Christiane Soulié, the mayor of Bruniquel, didn’t sleep much last night either. She was at the scene of the disaster Tuesday evening. “It’s a year that ended badly for us. Of course, we can be relieved that there were no victims, but I think of the owner. When the fire broke out, she didn’t was not at home, she had gone to New Year’s Eve. Today, she finds herself with nothing, she has lost everything”, confides the elected official. This Wednesday morning, Christiane Soulié had to get back in touch with the owner, staying with a friend, to establish her needs and see what help the municipality can provide.
There is no doubt that during this holiday season, solidarity will be expressed in Bruniquel for the unfortunate owner of the house in Pech. A beautiful residence, located in an exceptional natural setting, which is nothing more than a pile of smoking rubble on this New Year’s Day.
As for the origin of the disaster, we will have to wait for the conclusions of the gendarmerie investigation to find out more.
