It was 4:15 a.m. on Tuesday, May 30, when a fire broke out on the construction site of the new Gondrecourt-le-Château police station, located on the chemin rural de Naville, near the town’s first-aid center. The building, currently undergoing interior refurbishment, is due to be handed over in two months’ time.

The cornerstone for the new 1,500 m² facility was officially laid on December 2, 2021, at a total cost of just over €5 million (excluding VAT), of which €1 million is to be contributed by the local authorities. Construction had been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The future police station, which will include offices, technical facilities, garages and a building housing ten staff quarters, will be built against the backdrop of the Cigéo [nuclear waste burial] project and the Bure laboratory, some fifteen minutes from Gondrecourt-le-Château.

Seventeen firefighters from the Bure, Vaucouleurs, Ligny-en-Barrois and Pagny-sur-Meuse rescue centers were on site. The operation was coordinated by Lieutenant Dimitri Lamotte, group leader, assisted by Captain Julien Habart, column leader. “There is a lot of material damage, which will require work to be carried out. The fire broke out in several parts of the building”, stresses the officer in charge of rescue operations.

This point is confirmed by Sofian Saboulard, the Bar-le-Duc public prosecutor: “Initial findings suggest that a third party may have been involved, but technical expertise will have to confirm this”, he observes. The public prosecutor said he had referred the case to the Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale (IRCGN) in Pontoise, and had opened an investigation for “destruction by fire”.

via: sansnom Translated by Act for freedom now!