Creil: fire “probably” criminal of a building belonging to Suez
AFP, 8 July 2021 (extract)
A fire “probably” deliberately destroyed a building belonging to the Suez group in Creil (Oise) on the night of Wednesday 7 to Thursday 8 July, according to the public prosecutor’s office, a source close to the investigation establishing a link with the recent installation of video surveillance. According to the police, the fire broke out at around 00:30 in an administrative building of Suez Eau France.
“It almost completely destroyed one of the buildings dedicated to water activities, (…) which houses activities related to customer service, computer servers and archives,” without causing any injuries, a Suez spokeswoman told AFP. “An investigation is underway and in view of the testimonies, it is more than likely that the fire was deliberate,” Jean-Baptiste Bladier, the Senlis public prosecutor, told the AFP news agency. “We are not ruling out a link with the firing of fireworks during the day at a newly installed surveillance camera,” he added. According to a source close to the investigation, “video surveillance cameras had just been installed at a water tower…”.
The perpetrators of the fire may therefore have acted “in reaction”, out of “revenge”, this source said. If no arrests have been made at this stage, “ten to fifteen individuals” were seen by witnesses around the building at the time of the incident, she added. The water tower and the cameras “do not belong to Suez”, but to the town of Creil, the group’s spokeswoman said [although Suez is the manager of the site, i.e. the water tower with its cameras, eh?]
Suez offices up in smoke: a criminal act according to the mayor
Oise hebdo, 8 July 2021
Around midnight, on the night of Wednesday 7 to Thursday 8 July, emergency services were called to a building fire. The alert was given by the inhabitants of the residential buildings located just opposite the Suez premises, at the end of Avenue de la Rainette in Creil.
Emergency services were quickly on the scene. The site is considered to be sensitive as it houses a water tower. The firefighters then began a night of exhausting work. Around twenty firefighters were mobilised throughout the night. They came mainly from the main rescue centres of Creil and Montataire. The Nogent-sur-Oise fire station also came as reinforcements. It was only in the early hours of the morning that the firemen came to the end of the disaster.
No less than three pumping engines and a lifting arm were needed to deal with the disaster. The building in question has a surface area of 200 square metres. It is octagonal and is set back slightly from the multi-storey buildings of Suez. It also houses offices, including an administrative department.
This Thursday morning, once the emergency services had left, the place was left to the technical and scientific police. It is now important to know the origin of the fire. All the existing premises were examined this Thursday morning, in particular the water tower “which has an armoured door and specific security”, according to the technical staff present on site. The investigators found bottles of alcohol and other waste which will be analysed. In the meantime, the water supply has not been affected.
