This disaster probably smoldered for a long time under one or other of the heaps accumulated in the apartment by its occupant, suffering from Diogenes syndrome. A pathology that pushes to keep all kinds of things in its environment.
The firefighters have put in place surveillance, on site, to prevent any resumption of the fire.
Bertrand Lapègue/SOUTH WEST
New evacuation
Following the first disaster, an investigation was opened by the Bayonne public prosecutor’s office to determine the circumstances of this fire. An expert’s report was ordered. This justified leaving the apartment as it was. Seals have also been placed on the front door. They were in place when the second fire went off. At this stage, there is no element indicating that it may be of criminal origin.
The Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) has set up a surveillance point, in front of the building, to mitigate any resumption of flames in the coming hours. From the start of the disaster, the avenue d’Espagne was cut and diverted between the Saint-Jean crossroads and at the height of the avenue de Brindos.
The empty apartment
Once again, around twenty firefighters from the main rescue center in Anglet therefore intervened at the same address in two days. They implemented two fire hoses, one of which was on an aerial ladder. 27 people, who occupy the neighboring apartments, were evacuated and taken to the village hall of the town hall of Anglet, the time to determine whether or not they could return to their apartments. No one was hurt. The day before, a family of three had to be relocated.
The expertise ordered will be complicated by this second fire. This forced the firefighters to completely empty the premises. This undoubtedly caused the disappearance of any clues that could have enabled the expert to explain this incident.
A dumpster was brought to the scene very early Thursday morning to collect the contents that had been collected over the months by the occupant of the premises. The firefighters undertook to completely empty the enormous and diverse contents of this apartment. The firefighters had even encountered difficulties, the day before during their first intervention, to enter the apartment from the balcony, which was also completely cluttered.
27 people had to be evacuated. Bertrand Lapègue
Tired residents
The residents, very tired to have been evacuated two nights in a row, expressed, Thursday morning, a restrained anger. Maxime, who lives on the 3rd floor, above the apartment where there was the fire, tried to enter the victim’s home the day before, but was stopped by the flames. “I called several times. He answered me three times that he could not join me, then nothing more, ”he confides.
A dumpster was installed to collect the contents of the apartment. J. – P. T.
“I knew him well, adds Maxime. He helped me a lot to redo my scooter. He had his heart on his sleeve. I had never been home and I didn’t know he had this Diogenes syndrome. He only spoke to me about it recently, telling me that he had this disease which caused him to accumulate. Every morning he left with his bike and in the evening he always came back with something. »
Maxime was not one of the people rehoused and regrets it. “The floor in my apartment was cracking. I talked to the fire department about it, but they didn’t offer me anything. »
Several alerts
The tenant who lost his life in the fire of his T2 was apparently under guardianship. Residents have alerted, for several months, the syndic of co-ownership, Nexity, the town hall of Anglet and the police services on the situation of their neighbor.
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