An investigation was opened this Friday following the fire, now fixed, which covered at least 1,000 hectares of a forest massif south of Avignon.

The fire notably destroyed many pines in the Montagnette massif.

This had been triggered the day before by the passage of a freight train, we learned from the Tarascon prosecutor's office.

[INFO TO THE PUBLIC] Update on the aftermath of the #Graveson fire in @departement13 1/ fire fixed thanks to action @Pompiers_13 reinforced in particular @sdis84 2/ confirmation lifted #mistral dispersing pollutants #fire & #ozone on @VilleAvignon and its agglomeration pic.twitter .com/MwkHCcw14J

– Prefect of Vaucluse (@Prefet84) July 15, 2022


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“It is a priori an accidental fire, but which started under conditions which remain to be specified.

The freight train would have generated sparks on several occasions, according to testimonies, ”explains Laurent Gumbau, the public prosecutor.

The train “caused nine fire starts”

Is it due to a technical failure, a braking failure?

The investigators have started their investigations but the dangerous materials transported will first have to be moved before the start of the expertise, specifies the prosecutor.

This train “caused nine fire starts,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Bisone, of the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters, for his part this Friday morning.

According to him, everything would be "probably linked to a blocked brake shoe" on the machine.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the train was stopped in the middle of the track by the driver, following the triggering of a "danger alarm" in the face of an abnormal temperature observed at the level of the four axles.

Contacted, the SNCF was unable to specify whether this train was chartered by Fret SNCF.

Part of the TER traffic remains disrupted this Friday.

On the ground, the fire could be fixed in the middle of the night from Thursday to Friday, but a flank remains "very slightly active" on the Montagnette massif, says Lieutenant-Colonel Bisone.

“Extreme vigilance” this Friday afternoon

“We are going to be extremely vigilant because with the wind which will pick up this Friday afternoon, there could be a re-ignition on the side which has not burned”, he adds.

Four municipalities – Tarascon, Barbentane, Graveson and Boulbon – have made rooms available for evacuees, and some 250 people found refuge there last night.

And this “even if the rule remains confinement”, still insist the firefighters this Friday.

Thursday, this fire, which gave off an impressive plume of smoke, created an apocalyptic atmosphere, the ashes, pushed by a southerly wind, falling as far as Avignon, where the theater festival is in full swing.

The previous week, 650 hectares of forest had burned in neighboring Gard, while since Tuesday, relief has been fighting two very large forest fires in Gironde, with more than 7,000 hectares devastated.

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