A wagon with a faulty braking system is the cause of the fire which covered more than 1,600 hectares on the Montagnette massif, south of Avignon.
This fire, which is now fixed but not yet extinguished, started on July 14 from a railway line between Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Avignon (Vaucluse), visibly after the passage of a freight train which had generated sparks repeatedly.
An involuntary fire investigation was quickly opened.
A first expertise on the train in question on Thursday morning made it possible to "confirm that a wagon of the train was faulty" with "visual confirmation of a rise in temperature of the rolling system which rubs against the brake pad", explained to AFP the public prosecutor of Tarascon, Laurent Gumbau.
Human error 'very unlikely'
From there, three hypotheses emerge: an unforeseeable breakdown, a fault in the braking system due to poor maintenance or other, or human error with a brake that is too tight, but the latter is "very unlikely", according to the prosecutor.
This train, made up of 30 wagons, transported petroleum materials from Fos-sur-Mer, one of the sites of the autonomous port of Marseille.
The engine of the train belongs to Fret SNCF but it remains for the investigators to determine who has the possible legal responsibility: the owner of the wagons at this unidentified stage, the freight forwarder or the carrier, further detailed Laurent Gumbau.
The Montagnette fire fixed again, 400 firefighters on site
Heat wave: Resumption of the Montagnette fire, hundreds of people evacuated
Fire
Investigation
Train
Tarascon
Avignon
Paca
Marseilles
Company