William Molinié 9:14 a.m., August 17, 2022, modified at 9:14 a.m., August 17, 2022

Of the thousands of hectares of forest that went up in smoke this summer, some were deliberately burned.

For example, a 22-year-old man was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence for knowingly starting a fire on August 12 in the Ardennes.

A total of 26 people have been arrested since the start of the summer.

What is the profile of these arsonists?

Of these 26 people arrested, four of them have already been convicted.

Six others have been remanded in custody pending trial.

It is difficult, we are told Place Beauvau, to draw a typical robot portrait.

But all have one thing in common: they tick the boxes of the perfect arsonist.

A fascination with flames

This profile should not be confused with that of the arsonist, whose motivation can be, as desired, the concealment of evidence, revenge, sabotage or quite simply the insurance scam. there are no particular criminal motives.

He is very often integrated into society, discreet, without history, tells us a police source.

But he is fascinated by the flames.

Deviant behavior like this 44-year-old man arrested by the police in Ardèche at the end of last month in Hérault. 

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Well-researched places

He was a volunteer firefighter who admitted to starting fires.

He explained his gesture by "the excitement that the interventions of his colleagues caused him".

Arsonists usually do scouting.

The places are well chosen, well studied, as is the modus operandi.

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