The investigation into the fire in a house in Selles, in the Eure, which caused the death of three children is progressing.

An electrician has been indicted for manslaughter, the Evreux prosecution announced on Tuesday.

“The hearings of the owners of the house establish that the seals blew several times in the days preceding the fire and that the electrician intervened the previous Tuesday, December 20.

The pellets blew when they plugged in a fryer, a vacuum cleaner…”, indicated the public prosecutor of Evreux Rémi Coutin during a press conference.

On January 5, the 55-year-old electrician living in the area, unknown to the courts, was placed in police custody.

"During his hearings, he admits having intervened several times in the house recently," said the magistrate.

The fire, which took place on the night of December 23 to 24, caused the death of three children from the same family, aged 7, 11 and 13.

In their report, the criminal identification technicians estimated that a failure of the electrical panel or its peripherals, which was in the main room, "was the main cause of the fire", according to the prosecutor, specifying that the detector smoke hadn't worked.

Intoxicated by smoke

According to the autopsies, the two children found dead in an upstairs bedroom “died by inhalation of toxic fumes before being reached by the flames.

These same fumes led to the loss of consciousness of the third victim as well as to his death thereafter, “said the prosecutor.

According to a fire expert, "only an electric arc from the switchboard could have caused the melting of the cables which he observed", and this electric arc "could have thrown sparks onto the sofa located just below and thus caused the outbreak of fire”.

The electrician in question, who "appears collapsed" by the tragedy, was indicted on January 6 for manslaughter, involuntary injuries resulting in an ITT of less than or equal to three months and involuntary destruction of the property of others by fire .

Placed under judicial supervision, he faces a three-year prison sentence and a 45,000 euro fine.

The prosecution and the examining magistrate “considered that there were serious and consistent indications allowing this man to be put on trial, but the file will be very complex”, declared Rémi Coutin.

Miscellaneous facts

Eure: The 13-year-old girl seriously injured in a house fire died

Miscellaneous facts

Eure: Two children die in a house fire

  • Miscellaneous facts

  • Investigation

  • Fire

  • Child

  • Normandy

  • Manslaughter