The pungent smell of burnt plastics and burnt rubber still lingers a few hours later, above the small car park, at the corner of Avenue des Dumones and Rue René-Courtoison in Bourges.
But the most persistent stench, apart from those that furiously take the nostrils furiously, this Sunday morning, are those of anger which, added to impotence, is further accentuated.
“I went out and saw it,” said the 25-year-old. “This”, apart from Stephen King’s novel, is also his car, completely charred. An atrophied corpse that, a few hours earlier, had allowed him to return from work, around one in the morning. In charge of a restaurant sign in the agglomeration of Bourges, he had to take his job at 10.30 am, closing the restaurant after the last service.
“But I called my address and told them I couldn’t come. Starting Tuesday, I will be forced to buy another car. »
During the night from Sunday to Monday, Berruyers firefighters are called to overcome a car fire. With regard to the placement of charred vehicles in the small car park, along Avinguda des Dumones, spontaneous combustion was initially ruled out.
Two vehicles burned at the end of the parking area, near rue René-Courtoison, and a third vehicle burned at the other end, near the wall of a house. There is too much space between them to conclude that a spark that would have arisen from the first fire would have caused another fire only in the vehicle. Besides, nothing says it’s not the only car that burned first and then the other two …
This brings back very bad memories when the city of Bourges suffered a wave of car fires, in a very short time, at the end of last year, turning into psychosis. On Sunday morning, two investigators from the Bourges police station were trying to explain the origin of these fires. Right in front, a neighbor on Rue René-Courtoison could only regret the destruction of his companion’s vehicle.
Three cars burned in a car park on Avinguda des Dumones in Bourges
And above all, the consequences it will generate. “We know the pressure of insurance in these cases. We risk being fired at any time. We also know the second hand market and know very well that there will be a difference between the insurance refund and the purchase price. “Behind his glasses, the young man knows all too well the problem of car fires. With a surreal phlegm, he explains that his third burned car is here, even though he has only been living in the neighborhood for two years.
Two vehicles belonged to his companion, including the one that was destroyed during the night from Saturday to Sunday. The third, his, died in the fire in his garage. He suspects a disaster triggered after a robbery. What we do not see, as a result of the car fires, are the material and administrative inconveniences that represent the second punishment for the victims of these events.
At the end of the morning, a crane came to remove the charred remains from the young woman’s car, which, she knew all too well, had to go through Sunday and Monday without going to work. And maybe he loses some of his salary. Leaving her job at midnight, impossible to walk, and alone. And no other means of transportation. This is called watching a part of your life go up in smoke.
RB