Police to investigate arson at Plémont

Monday 06 January 2014

Firefighters will hand the investigation into the Plémont fire over to the police today for a potential arson inquiry after ruling out lightning strikes as the cause of the blaze.

They say that arson is almost certainly behind the fire at the disused holiday camp that took 25 firefighters and four fire engines to tackle on Saturday morning.

Although firefighters said at the time that they suspected human involvement in the fire – either deliberate or accidental – they had to wait for information from the Met Office to rule out lightning strikes from Friday afternoon as a possible source of the fire.

The main central block of the camp will now have to be demolished by the owners, because the Fire Service say it is potentially dangerous.

Cliff paths to the north of the site had been closed because of the risk of debris coming loose from the remains of the gutted main building but have now been reopened.

Station Commander Marc Le Cornu – who was one of the first on the scene of the fire just after 6 am on Saturday morning – said: “We have ruled out lightning, and we are now saying it is arson.

“We will formally pass this over to the States of Jersey Police and it will be up to them how they take it forward.”