The criminal track is privileged for the fire which covered 350 hectares at the end of the week in Courgeac, in the south of Charente, and which was declared "fixed" on Sunday.

The authorities had identified Thursday afternoon a total of 16 “almost simultaneous” fire starts in five neighboring towns along departmental road 24, about thirty kilometers south of Angoulême.

Sixteen fire starts

The track of an arsonist is privileged: "The criminal origin of the fires leaves little doubt with regard to the location of the fires and their concomitance", declared Sunday evening the public prosecutor of Angoulême Stéphanie Aouine, in a press release.

“At this stage, of the 16 declared fire outbreaks, the technical findings make it possible to establish four with certainty,” added the magistrate.

“Additional investigations and expertise” are planned in the coming days.

And to specify that "at this time", the arrest on Saturday evening of an arsonist caught in the act by witnesses in Montpon-Ménestérol in the Dordogne, about fifty kilometers away, "does not appear in connection with the facts occurred in Charente”.

Thursday, the fire had also affected the neighboring town of Nonac, traversing 20 hectares of pines and hardwoods before being quickly fixed, according to the prefecture.

Nearly 100 hectares burned

Nearly forty people had been evacuated from the area and the village of Courgeac had been confined due to heavy smoke.

In Gironde, after the fire which ravaged 3,400 hectares around Saumos at the start of the week, a new fire broke out on Sunday, this time on the Bassin d'Arcachon, behind the old municipal landfill of the town of Arès .

It burned “100 hectares” of forest and vegetation and forced the evacuation of around 300 people “as a preventive measure”, according to the Gironde prefecture and the town hall of the commune.

Shortly before 7 p.m., the fire was "contained but not fixed", announced the prefecture.

Another fire in Magescq in the Landes, near a park of photovoltaic panels, had burned 105 hectares on Saturday.

Miscellaneous facts

Dordogne: Arsonist arrested, caught in the act by witnesses

Miscellaneous facts

Charente: 400 hectares burned after multiple fire starts

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