He denounced himself.
A man “reported to the gendarmerie on Wednesday morning, was heard and then presented to an examining magistrate, who indicted him for
involuntary destruction by fire of wood, forest or moorland which could create irreversible damage to the property. environment by violation of an obligation of safety or prudence
”, announced the substitute prosecutor of Mende, Magali Espaze.
Read alsoFires: Aveyron, Isère, Gironde, Charente, Maine-et-Loire... thousands of hectares are burning
It could therefore be the cause of the fire on the edge of Lozère and Aveyron, which ravaged more than 700 ha of vegetation.
According to the firefighters, the fire was started on Monday by an agricultural machine, one element of which, by scraping the tar from the road, caused sparks which set fire to the vegetation along a departmental road in Lozère, near Massegros , before extending to the neighboring department of Aveyron.
The man was released and placed under judicial supervision, said the magistrate, insisting on the fact that he benefited from the presumption of innocence.
He faces five years in prison.
The deputy prosecutor did not wish to specify the identity or the profession of the man under investigation, while stressing that there is "only one defendant" in this case, for which she opened an investigation, the fire having started in his department.
Calling for the greatest vigilance in professional and leisure activities, she stressed that even if one starts a fire unintentionally, one risks criminal prosecution for lack of precaution and prudence.
The penalty in this case is five years in prison.
Read also“We all had to leave in the middle of the night”: 3000 people evacuated in the face of the fire in Lozère and Aveyron
About 3,000 campers and residents of two villages in Aveyron had to be evacuated on Tuesday as a precaution because of this fire which stopped progressing, without being brought under control.