A 45-year-old former volunteer firefighter was sentenced on Tuesday in Périgueux (Dordogne) to a two-year suspended prison sentence for having voluntarily lit a fire in a cornfield in Double;

reports

Southwest

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Despite the judgment of this man, alcoholic at the time of the facts, the department continues its hunt for arsonists after repeated fires.

A special cell to spot arsonists

Since the beginning of August, the Dordogne has suffered “50 fire starts” according to the prefecture.

While the 40-year-old was in police custody this Sunday, a fire again burned 5,000 m² in La Double, near La Roche-Chalais.

Gendarmerie investigators are currently tracking "one or more arsonists" in this densely wooded area.

The investigations are carried out by a dedicated unit with six investigators assisted by 40 to 60 gendarmes depending on the day.

In neighboring Charente, 350 hectares burned in mid-September after 16 fire starts in five neighboring towns south of Angoulême.

The criminal track "is little doubt" according to the prosecution, which rules out the possibility of a link with the nearby Double.

Arsonists all over the country

In August, the prefecture of Gironde had noted an increase in "acts of arsonists" after the two big fires in July.

A “Vigilance Forêt” gendarmerie platoon had been launched to monitor suspicious behavior.

Quickly, a 19-year-old student, volunteer firefighter, was arrested.

He is believed to have caused 31 fires alone.

Arsonists were arrested all over France this summer.

In Hérault, a 33-year-old former volunteer firefighter who allegedly caused two fires in early August will be tried on September 28.

On August 31, a forty-year-old was sentenced to one year in prison before the Dijon court (Côte-d'Or) for eight voluntary fire starts in the Morvan.

According to the National Forestry Office (ONF), nine out of ten fires are of human origin and three out of ten, on average, are intentional.

On August 21, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin assured that there had been “between 80 and 120 fires starting per day” this summer in France and that “26 arrests of suspected arsonists” had taken place.

In Aveyron, farmers alongside firefighters in the face of fires

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