In the Jura, a former volunteer firefighter imprisoned after a fire

Europe 1 with AFP 10:09 p.m., August 24, 2022, modified at 10:11 p.m., August 24, 2022

A former volunteer firefighter was imprisoned on Wednesday after admitting to being the cause of a fire that ravaged 230 hectares of forest in the Jura in mid-August, announced the Lons-le-Saunier prosecutor's office.

The 27-year-old Jura man was remanded in custody pending his trial on Thursday by the Lons-le-Saunier criminal court, in immediate appearance, city prosecutor Lionel Pascal said in a statement.

The suspect had reported a fire starting on August 10, shortly before noon, in the Cornod sector, in the south-west of the department.

However, inconsistencies between his statements and those of other witnesses led to his arrest and detention.

60 firefighters and 24 vehicles mobilized

The man, married and father of two children, admitted to investigators that he had set fire to twigs with a lighter, arguing that he wanted to try an experiment to check "if the fire could catch as quickly as that".

The former firefighter, self-employed in the city and with a clean criminal record, expressed his regrets during his police custody.

A psychiatric expertise has been ordered, its results should be communicated within the next 24 hours, according to the prosecutor.

The fire, which had spread to the municipalities of Vosbles-Valfin and Thoirette-Coisia, within a Natura 2000 zone, had mobilized 60 firefighters and 24 machines for 48 hours, as well as 40 gendarmes.

The village of Chavagna had to be evacuated, but no casualties were to be deplored.

In a first report, the ONF estimated that the fire resulted in the release of 24,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, with nearly 14,000 cubic meters of charred wood for a damage of 2.7 million euros.

More than 1,000 hectares destroyed

At the beginning of August, more than 1,000 hectares of forest had been reduced to ashes in the south-east of the Jura, in one week, by fires on an "unprecedented scale", according to the authorities.

The department has been classified in a situation of "crisis" drought, the ultimate level, since August 1.

On Monday, the prosecution also announced that a worker in conflict with his volunteer firefighter son had been imprisoned after admitting to being the cause of a fire in Champagnole.

The disaster had destroyed approximately 400 m² of vegetation before being quickly circumscribed by the firefighters.