in Biganos, a violent fire devastates the future housing of the gendarmerie

Seven firefighters still have to monitor the building tonight. This Wednesday, after being called at 5:07 a.m., around sixty firefighters were dispatched to rue Élisabeth Badinter in Biganos. When they arrived, the two facades of the building under construction – intended to accommodate housing for the gendarmes and their families – were already ravaged by flames. The building under construction, which was to be delivered in July 2025 according to the town hall, did not house any residents. Neither injuries nor evacuations in the surrounding area have been reported. In the college next door, however, recess this Wednesday took place in the classrooms in order to protect the students from the smoke.

The soldiers who were to benefit from this official accommodation, on the other hand, will still have to wait. “It’s very sad for the gendarmes and their families, but it’s a building that’s really unlucky. The site had already been abandoned for a year, just after the major works, because the company in charge of it had gone bankrupt.explains Bruno Lafon, the mayor of Biganos. According to the councilor, the site will have to be demolished and rebuilt after the investigation by the gendarmerie and expert assessments.

Also read
In the footsteps of investigators who learn to read fires in Gironde

Main fireplace off

After several hours of work and using six water hoses, firefighters managed to extinguish the main source of the fire on Wednesday afternoon. However, the wooden structure of the building, built over three floors and 900 square meters of footprint, presents a significant risk of collapse. This prevents firefighters from containing the last hot spots in the fire zone. A security perimeter must be set up tonight in order to monitor and quickly extinguish any resurgence of the flames. Around a quarter of the apartments built for the military, the equivalent of 250 square meters, were saved from the flames.