Two more men imprisoned for starting Provence fire

The men, aged 25 and 27, were charged with deliberately starting a blaze that went on to destroy 2000 m² of pinewood forest near Châteauneuf-Les-Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône).

The duo was taken into custody on August 16 and charged and imprisoned just one day later, confirmed the departmental director of public security (direction départementale de la sécurité publique (DDSP)) in French newspaper Le Monde.

The men were caught as part of an ongoing investigation into the cause of the fires by the brigade for urban safety (brigade de sûreté urbaine (BSU)), part of the commissariat of Martigues.

Over the summer this year, wildfires damaged over 10 000 hectares of forest and vegetation across Corsica and Provence, provoked and spread in part by the drought and high temperatures. More fires have since taken hold in the area, although they are said to be under control.

The arrest and charging of these two men comes just one week after the severe sentencing of a 19-year-old man, who was found to have started dozens of fires near Istres (also Bouches-du-Rhône) and its surrounding areas, between May 25 and August 1.

The man was found guilty by a judge in Aix-en-Provence, of the “destruction of woodland or forest” and of “exposing people to bodily harm or creating irreversible damage to the environment”, and punished with 15 years of imprisonment.