The hall of the Gravelines basketball club (Elite) has been ravaged since Monday December 25 at midday by a “violent fire”, announced the firefighters of the North, and “everything went up in smoke”, specified the club at Agence France-Presse.
“There is no longer a basketball room, everything has gone up in smoke,” said the president of the Gravelines club, Christian Devos. “Forty years of life in Sportica have gone up in smoke,” he added.
The fire “started at the swimming pool, then spread to the cafeteria and basketball hall,” the Northern prefecture said in a statement. “If the fire is currently contained, extinction remains partial,” she adds.
“The entire sports complex”, which also includes a swimming pool, a cafeteria and equipment, is affected by the flames, “with the exception of the commercial cells”, declare the firefighters.
Toxicity analyzes in progress
At 4 p.m., more than sixty firefighters were mobilized to put out the fire ravaging the 3,000-seat hall, which started around 12:45 p.m., according to the North departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS). In total, the Northern prefecture reported 90 firefighters deployed on site, and more than forty engines. “No casualties have been reported at this time, apart from two minor injuries among the firefighters,” she said in her press release.
Residents have been invited by the prefecture to stay at home, while toxicity analyzes are underway.
“If we had been in a period of high attendance at the swimming pool or if there had been training in the basketball hall, it would have been catastrophic,” underlined Christian Devos. But “everything was closed, under maintenance. And there was no practice” for the basketball team when the fire started, he added.
Seventeenth and penultimate in Elite, Gravelines should have received Paris, current second, on Thursday. “The match will not take place,” regretted Mr. Devos.
