As the wildfires in southeast France’s Ardeche department were finally brought under control, a suspect arrested admitted to starting the blaze, according to local media.
The suspect, a 44-year-old man, was arrested inebriated, Xinhua reported, citing French news channel BFMTV on Thursday night.
According to Privas’ prosecutor, the suspect was apprehended “with numerous testimonies collected by investigators that made it possible to identify with certainty a dark colour Ford 4×4 present at the start of the fires.”
The fires started in Ardeche on Wednesday morning.
According to BFMTV, at least 600 firefighters were dispatched to put out the fires that consumed 1,000 hectares of land.
So far, no fatalities have been reported.
