closure order, investigation for involuntary damage

See my news
Follow Metropolitan

The church of Saints-François, in Montpellier, part of whose roof burned is closed to the public, while one police investigation is carried out for involuntary damage or deterioration of another person's property by fire, as well as for breach of an obligation of safety or prudence, which constitute offenses, if they are proven at the end of the investigations supervised by the public prosecutor of Montpellier.

This Wednesday, December 11, 2024, around 9:30 a.m., a merchant located on Boulevard de Strasbourg, near Place Carnot, between the police station and the Saint-Roch SNCF station alerted the priest of the Saints-François church, seeing a large acrid smoke escaping from a corner of the roof, on the rue des Aiguerelles side. It appears that the zinc roof is engulfed in flames.

THE firefighters of Sdis 34 dispatched large resources and set up a command post, with General Controller Eric Florès to direct operations, while via large pivoting aerial ladders, the fire was attacked with tons of water poured.

The fire smolders under the vast roof and spreads slowly, devouring several m2 of frames under the roof. It will take almost nine hours for the fire to be stopped, followed by a long operation to remove the charred or still smoking areas using thermal cameras, after reconnaissance.

Firefighters and workers from a private company specializing in the rescue of sensitive objects worked to secure all the valuable works of art (relics, paintings, etc.), as well as to extract and preserve the large statue of the Virgin Mary, to the great satisfaction of the priest, the diocese of Montpellier and the faithful.

Since then, a public closure order has prohibited the faithful from coming to the church, as confirmed this Tuesday, December 17, 2024 in MetropolitanFather Guilhem Knockaert, parish priest, confirming that experts are on the site to survey the damage and to quantify their exact cost, which is still unknown to this day. It is certain: the damage will be very significant.

Accompanied by construction company managers, the experts will also have to order mandatory safeguarding procedures, in particular to determine whether a roof decontamination site is necessary or not.

Accidental origin

The preliminary investigation carried out by the Local judicial police service -Slpj- of the central police station of Montpellier favors a accidental originworkers from a company carrying out sealing work under and on the zinc roof may have unintentionally caused the fire to start, after they had left the premises. A criminal act is completely excluded in view of the clues recovered.

Fire detection specialists from the local judicial identification service -Slij- of Marseille traveled to the site this Friday, December 13 to carry out investigations and to carry out numerous surveys as part of the referral for damage or deterioration. unintentional damage to the property of others by fire. Indices will be subjected to analysis with results which will take several weeks, even months.

Four witnesses heard

The two managers and the two workers of the company who carried out the waterproofing project have already been heard, as witnesses for the moment, by the Slpj police officers, in the aspect of the charge of breach of a safety or security obligation. prudence targeted by the public prosecutor. The investigators also interviewed the parish priest, in a state of shock like those in charge of the archdiocese and diocese and the faithful in the face of this devastating fire.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.