a woman in absolute emergency, 19 people evacuated

A woman was hospitalized in absolute emergency after a fire of deliberate origin which also caused the evacuation of 19 residents this Sunday morning in Poitiers, in a district where several anti-drug operations took place recently, we learned from firefighters and a source close to the investigation.

The fire was started around 6:00 a.m., from supermarket trolleys and a scooter parked at the foot of the building, in the Trois-Cités district. Two other fires were observed from trash cans pushed onto the public highway near the incident, the same source said, confirming information from the local daily La Nouvelle République.

Open investigation

The fire spread very quickly to the apartments on four floors. The residents were shouting “Help”according to witnesses met on site by an AFP correspondent. Nineteen residents were evacuated by the 70 firefighters mobilized on site. A 75-year-old woman suffered burns to her respiratory tract and was evacuated in absolute emergency by Samu to the emergency room of Poitiers University Hospital; three children and an adult were evacuated in relative emergency, firefighters said.

The victims found refuge in a local public school. An investigation was opened to “decay by arson” and entrusted to the property crime brigade of the territorial crime division of the Poitiers police station, a source close to the investigation indicated. The scientific police took samples on site.

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The Trois Cités district has been the subject, for several months, of constant attention from the police services as part of the dismantling of drug trafficking. Twice this fall, arrests and searches took place, on October 22 and November 6. According to several sources met on site, the bottom of the burned building served as a deal point until its dismantling last summer.