• One of the two fires that broke out in the Monts d'Arrée (Finistère) would be of criminal origin according to the Quimper prosecutor.

  • More than 1,700 hectares of moorland have been ravaged by flames since Monday afternoon.

  • The witnesses are brought to make themselves known to the gendarmerie brigade of Châteaulin in charge of the investigation.

The criminal trail is advanced.

And even privileged.

A little over forty-eight hours after the start of a dramatic fire which ravaged more than 1,700 hectares of moorland in the Monts d'Arrée (Finistère), the prosecution has advanced its investigation.

While the origin of the biggest fire that modern Brittany has known was still unknown, the public prosecutor of Quimper announced that the criminal track was privileged.

The two fires started on Monday "are definitely of human origin" and "the criminal nature of the fire affecting the Brennilis site" is "obvious due to the observation of two fire starts 30 meters apart".

According to Quimper prosecutor Carine Halley, this second fire was reported at 11:20 p.m. in the forest at a place called Ploenez in the town of Brennilis.

His prosecution has opened two investigations, one of which for "deliberate destruction by fire" because "the voluntary origin of the facts affecting the Brasparts site is not certain".

The other for "crime of willful destruction by fire of wood, forest, moors, maquis or plantation which can create irreversible damage to the environment".

“Anyone who has witnessed facts likely to be linked to these two fires is invited to contact the research brigade of the Châteaulin gendarmerie”, which has been seized of the investigation.

No link has yet been established between the two incidents.

According to the Finistère prefecture, the progression of the fire slowed down considerably on Wednesday and the disaster was "under control".

More than 250 firefighters and 60 fire-fighting machines were permanently mobilized on this preserved site of the Armorican massif where more than 39 degrees were recorded on Monday.

Another major fire narrowly avoided

In Ille-et-Vilaine, a 67-year-old man presented himself to the gendarmes explaining that he was at the origin of the fire which grazed the biological station of Paimpont.

The latter was burning plants on his property when the fire spread, blown by the hot wind and the scorching temperatures on Monday.

Five to seven hectares of vegetation burned at the gates of the famous Brocéliande forest before the firefighters who came in large numbers managed to control it.

Company

Fire in Brittany: The fire is slowing down and is "under control" in the Monts d'Arrée

Planet

Heat wave in Brittany: In Brocéliande, the forest saved in extremis from a fire lit by an individual

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