A beautiful sun and a blue sky won’t erase with a magic wand the pangs of the fire that completely destroyed the building that housed the equipment, costumes and sets of the Mother in Gueule during the night.
This Sunday morning, at the Sablière association center in Montceau-les-Mines, we realize the impact of the flames. The fire was very violent. It’s all gone up in smoke, there’s nothing left. A fireplace is still the last trace of a past that no longer has a name.
“It is all the memory of our association that has disappeared,” says Jean-Paul Bonin, president of La Mère en Gueule. Everything is charred, reduced to ashes.
Since All Saints Day, in the context of saving energy, the troop had found refuge in a classroom of the Bois du Verne school. However, the costumes, some of which date back to the last century, the sets, the scenographic equipment, the mixing desks, “our documents on the social history of Montceau, of the mine, all burned,” the president specifies.
He also says that on several occasions the premises were visited no later than last Thursday. With a crowbar, the intruders got inside. They searched the premises, messed up everything. The association will file a complaint with the police headquarters. The damage, both moral and financial, is considerable.
During the week, neighborhood residents were concerned about trash fires. So there is no smoke without fire.
For the foreseeable future, however, it is difficult to know the origin of this fire. The scientific police will take samples. An investigation is underway.
Fortunately, thanks to the intervention of the firefighters, the residential houses located nearby were saved. “We were very scared,” says a woman whose home is close to the building.
Jean Bernard
