The phone did not stop ringing at the departmental fire and rescue service (Sdis) of Yvelines. On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, in addition to the so-called "routine" interventions, firefighters moved on four major fires.
One of them was dramatic in Boinville-le-Gaillard, a small town in the south of the department on the border of Essonne and Eure-et-Loir. A 70-year-old man died in a fire that ravaged his home. Firefighters were called around 23:30 p.m. by a private security company, after a pensioner's personal alarm went off. It was he himself who activated it, probably awakened by the fumes.
"He had to try to leave his home but unfortunately did not succeed, says a source close to the case. Firefighters broke down the door when they arrived and found him on the ground in cardiorespiratory arrest; They were unable to resuscitate him. According to initial findings, the septuagenarian died intoxicated by the fumes. An investigation entrusted to the gendarmerie is opened to determine the origin of the tragedy.
Not far from there, in Ponthévrard, a little earlier in the evening, around 20:45, another fire broke out in a pavilion in the dead end of the bell tower. The incident did not cause any casualties but the dwelling went up in smoke, the roof collapsed. The couple who occupied the premises had to be rehoused.
A van loaded with gas on the A13
Meanwhile on the A13 motorway, other firefighters avoided the worst. Around 21 p.m., a commercial vehicle that was catching fire stopped on the emergency lane at Chapet, in the province-Paris direction. Inside were several gas cylinders, including acetylene, a hydrocarbon used for welding.
While the flames ravaged 500 meters of vegetation around the vehicle, firefighters set up a 100-meter security perimeter around the site of the fire, in case an explosion occurred. They finally managed to cool the gas cylinders around 0:30 a.m. During the intervention, traffic was completely cut off on this portion of the A13.
Finally the night ended on the hats of wheels with another fire of unknown origin this Thursday morning, around 5:30, in a car garage in Mantes-la-Jolie. In this 1,500 m² hangar, one vehicle went up in smoke, while eight others were damaged by the smoke. There were no injuries but three people are technically unemployed while cleaning the premises.