No criminal investigation into ‘accidental’ cliff fire
NO criminal investigation is taking place into a cliff fire at the weekend, as it is believed it was an accident, head of law enforcement Ruari Hardy has said.
Firefighters were called to Jerbourg just before 11am on Saturday and spent several hours tackling the blaze. A disposable barbecue was found to be the cause.
Mr Hardy said he had spoken to chief fire officer Jon Le Page about the fire and it was clear someone had gone to the cliff to have a barbecue, which was not in line with the message of stay home and social distancing.
‘It appears they cleared up, but because of the heat of the barbecue, it left some heat in the foliage and it was that, over time, that smouldered and then caught fire,’ he said.
‘So when Fire & Rescue got there, there was no evidence it had been set deliberately ... so we are not pursuing it as a criminal investigation.’
He said the fire highlighted how dangerous it was for people to do activities like this.
He noted that it had been dry for several weeks and that meant there was a higher risk of causing a fire.
‘It just highlights [that] these sorts of activities can lead to some of the blue light services having to spend considerable amounts of time and energy and resources dealing with some, which, in the circumstances, should not be happening,’ he said.
