It will be forbidden to smoke in all woods and forests, and up to 200 meters from these areas, during periods of fire risk, voted Wednesday evening, May 17 the National Assembly as part of the examination of a bill to prevent these fires.
The deputies adopted an amendment by rapporteur Anthony Brosse (Renaissance) to this effect, going further than the initial text from the Senate. It is a question of "generalizing the smoking ban to all woods and forests of the national territory, and not only to territories particularly exposed to the risk of fire," explained the elected representative of Loiret, defending a "clarification of the law for citizens". The periods concerned will be set by the prefects.
The Minister of Local Authorities Dominique Faure relied on the "wisdom" of the deputies on this vote, stressing that it will be necessary to specify what it is around the houses. In first reading at the Palais Bourbon since Monday, the bill "to strengthen the prevention and fight against the intensification and extension of the fire risk" explicitly includes the throwing of cigarette butts among the causes that can "unintentionally cause the fire of woods and forests". For the most serious cases resulting in the death of one or more people, criminal penalties could reach ten years' imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros.
