Three injured after a fire in a room at the Mende psychological and psychiatric reception unit

Le sinistre s'est déclaré dans la partie nord-ouest de l'établissement. – DR

Le sinistre s'est déclaré vers 17h15, ce lundi 15 janvier 2024, dans la partie nord-ouest de l'établissement. Trente-quatre personnes ont été évacuées.

A violent fire completely destroyed one of the rooms of the psychological and psychiatric reception unit (UAPP), in Mende, this Monday January 15, 2024. Around thirty firefighters were mobilized to overcome this disaster, which broke out around 5:15 p.m., as well as a large police force to secure the scene.  

Twenty-one residents and thirteen staff from the establishment were evacuated before being taken care of by emergency services, on the other side of Nelson Avenue -Mandela, in the parking lot of the Children's Medical-Psychological Center. Three people were inconvenienced by the smoke and transferred to the nearby Lozère Hospital. 

The occupant of the room among the injured

"Four to five rooms are unusable", estimated Captain Olivier Barbut, commander of relief operations (COS). At 6:30 p.m., while the firefighters were still hard at work, in particular to prevent any resumption of fire, Guillaume Verduzier, the director of the François-Tosquelles hospital, was considering rehousing certain patients on the Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole site.

According to certain testimonies, the occupant of the devastated room set fire to his mattress, after having threatened to take action several times. The state of health of this man, who was one of the victims, did not allow him, on the evening of the disaster, to be heard by the investigators.

The firefighters remained for a long time to carry out their investigations. Midi Libre – Célian Guignard