A firewall launched without authorization in Cap-Ferret is now the subject of a complaint against X. The AC association!! requests an investigation into the conditions of its realization and its resumption.
THE firebreak was to protect the tip of Cap-Ferret from flames. He now finds himself at the heart of legal proceedings.
On August 19, theanti-corruption association AC!! filed a complaint against to request an investigation into the conditions under which a significant tree felling project was started and then continued to the south of the peninsulaeven though the authorizations had not initially been obtained.
At the origin of the operation: Benoît Bartherotte, 79 years old, president of the Association for the Defense of the Point of Cap-Ferret (ADPCF) and owner of a four-hectare estate at the end of the peninsula.
Pine trees felled as the flames progress
On July 22, a fire started in Saumos, in Gironde. The next day, while the flames progress towards Lège-Cap-FerretBenoît Bartherotte takes the initiative to make cut down pine trees several hundred meters wide to create a fire break line. The context is that of a major emergency since the megafire will end up ravaging around 42,000 hectares in the department and tens of thousands of people are evacuated from the Lège-Cap-Ferret sector, while the only road to leave the peninsula is directly threatened. The project is financed by the association chaired by the businessman.
However, a problem quickly appeared: the work began without prior authorization and concerned in particular plots belonging to the municipality and the ONF (National Forestry Office). On July 26, the town hall therefore requested that the construction site be stopped. But two days later, work resumed.
Benoît Bartherotte had a large cut made in the forest in order to limit the progression of the flames. © Philippe Lopez / AFP
Why is the association requesting an investigation?
In its complaint against X, the association does not only contest possible offenses linked to felling and intervention on public land. It also requests that the conditions under which the construction site was able to resume after its suspension be examined. AC!! discusses possible environmental and forestry offenses as well as the “exact conditions” in which certain public authorities could have allowed or facilitated the continuation of the work. The association also wishes to understand why a construction site interrupted by the town hall was able to resume so quickly.
For his part, interviewed by AFP, the businessman assumes his choice. He explains that he acted in the face of the emergency, “in substitution for the lack of public force“. According to him, waiting for the usual procedures would have wasted precious time while the fire directly threatened the peninsula. He also ensures that the operation cost the taxpayer nothing and believes that rapid intervention was necessary. He also does not deny having contacted his networks to obtain authorization after the start of the project. During an exchange with AFP on July 29, he explained in particular that he had used his relationships “until Brigitte Macron“.
“He first protected his property“
The AC association!! carries a radically different reading. Jean-Pierre Steiner, former police commissioner and member of the association, believes that Benoît Bartherotte above all sought to protect his own property. He accuses the businessman of having undertaken the work without prior coordination with the authorities, before obtaining their intervention.
The contrast is all the more marked as the fight against the fire was then organized on a completely different scale. From July 27, the authorities legally initiated a much larger project at the entrance to the peninsula – in total, 127 kilometers of firebreaks must be created in the department to limit the spread of fires.
However, the controversy does not only concern this site. Benoît Bartherotte is a well-known figure from Cap-Ferret since his installation on the peninsula in the early 1980s. He became known in particular for the work carried out to maintain a dike intended to combat coastal erosion, a dike that has been the subject of a legal dispute with the authorities for several decades.
Faced with an extraordinary fire, a few hours can count. But the massive felling of trees, intervention on public plots and the creation of a forestry work remain subject to environmental and administrative rules. L’investigation requested by AC!! will have to determine in particular whether any infractions were committed and, above all, under what conditions the work was able to resume after its suspension.
