Two volunteer firefighters were taken into custody this Friday, suspected of having deliberately set fire to thirteen agricultural buildings in the agglomeration of Vesoul (Haute-Saône), AFP learned on Saturday from the prosecution. .
After twelve fires of agricultural buildings since August 2020, "elements have enabled investigators from the Vesoul search brigade to identify" at least one of the suspects, "who has been placed under surveillance", told the AFP the prosecutor of the Republic of Vesoul, Emmanuel Dupic.
The investigators were thus able to “witness the fire of an agricultural shed containing around forty bales of straw in Charmoille” this Friday around 5 pm, he continued.
In the process, the two authors were arrested ... at the Vesoul fire station.
They are two volunteer firefighters aged 19 and 20, in whose vehicle jerry cans and lighters were found.
Feeling of betrayal
"These deliberate fires have created a very strong emotion in the agricultural world with important consequences" and the discovery of the alleged perpetrators "created a very important stir among the firefighters who feel betrayed", underlined the prosecutor of the Republic.
"I can tell you that it is a double feeling, consternation and betrayal", confirmed, for his part, Colonel Stéphane Helleu, boss of the departmental fire and rescue service of Haute-Saône, to the 'Is Republican.
“We never had any suspicion and nothing allowed us to think that it could be firefighters,” he said.
The custody of the two suspects was extended this Saturday evening and they will be presented Sunday to an examining magistrate "with a view to their indictment for willful degradation committed with a dangerous means", offense punishable by ten years of imprisonment , said Emmanuel Dupic.
The Vesoul prosecutor's office will request their placement in pre-trial detention.