Three forestry staff questioned over deadly south-west France wildfire

Three forestry staff are being questioned in relation to last year’s devastating wildfire in the Aude department, which saw 17,000 hectares of land burned.

The agents, working for the Office national des forêts (ONF, national forestry office), are currently in police custody, reported media outlet La Dépêche.

“At this stage, it's a working hypothesis,” a source close to the investigation told AFP, referring to the possibility that the three were partially responsible for the blaze.

The ONF confirmed that three of its staff had been taken in for questioning on June 2.

Investigators are reportedly examining whether a cigarette discarded from an ONF patrol vehicle may have ignited vegetation beside the road, leading to the fire.

The ONF stressed that the agents are being questioned in a personal capacity and that the organisation itself is not under investigation.

One dead, dozens injured in historic blaze

Investigations into the August 2025 wildfire have been ongoing for several months.

Initially carried out by the Carcassonne public prosecutor, the case was soon transferred to the environmental unit of the Montpellier Public Prosecutor’s Office “in light of the nature of the facts and the extent of the damage suffered”.

The blaze was the biggest in more than half a century in the area, leading to one death and 25 injuries, including 19 firefighters, as well as destroying or damaging 36 homes.

Then-prime minister François Bayrou called it a “catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude”.

Preliminary investigations soon after the blaze led officials to suspect that the fire had been started deliberately.

However, witness photographs and videos have since led investigators to reassess the fire’s point of origin.

According to reports, the location initially identified as the starting point may in fact have been a secondary fire ignited by flames spreading from elsewhere.

Investigators now believe the blaze may have started closer to the roadside than previously thought, a development that has strengthened the theory that a discarded cigarette could have been responsible.

In a statement on June 3, the Montpellier prosecutor said the three individuals were being questioned by investigators acting under a judicial commission as part of an inquiry into offences including involuntary destruction by fire, while stressing that all benefit from the presumption of innocence.

The fire began on August 5, 2025, and spread across 16 communes in the Corbières region. It was fully extinguished only on August 28 after thousands of firefighters from across France, supported by water-bombing aircraft, were deployed to tackle the blaze.

Around a third of all wildfires are deliberately started, according to firefighting officials, with up to 90% of all blazes being human in origin, including accidental fires.