Inquiry fails to prove arson in major Bonne Nuit furze fire

Wednesday 07 November 2018

Jersey's Fire Service has said they initially suspected a major fire on the headland at Bonne Nuit was caused deliberately, but a lack of evidence has made that difficult to prove.

Consequently, the official investigation has had to conclude that the blaze which tore through the headland in mid-September was accidental and “most likely caused by the careless disposal of smoking material."

Some aerial footage of the Bonne Nuit furze fire working with @JsyFire to help gauge the size of the damaged area and identify any further hotspots with the potential to cause further fire spread pic.twitter.com/HMX4FsZ4xg

— Aerial Recon Team (@Jsy999ART) September 16, 2018

The fire broke out on the evening of 15 September and had the Fire Service at full capacity as they tried to bring the rapidly spreading flames under control. 

The lack of nearby water supplies and the difficult terrain proved to be challenging for firefighters who were out on the headland until the early hours of the morning trying to control the flames. 

Pictured: The furze fire left 50,000 square metres of the headland damaged and took eight hours to put out (Aerial Recon Team).

An investigation was launched into the fire and as the Duty Officer for the incident, Station Commander Ryan Hall explained at the time that there were “reports of activities at Bonne Nuit harbour” which the authorities were looking into.

“The cause was suspected to be deliberate, but that can’t be proved”, Mr Hall explained. Mr Hall told Express that the investigation revolved around “eye witness accounts of people seen in the area” and "all the stories match up”.

Pictured: Station Commander Ryan Hall told Express that it the "cause was suspected to be deliberate" but the investigation has officially ruled it an accident.

When asked why it was suspected the cause was deliberate, the Station Commander said: “Fires don’t just start… it could be an accidental cause which was most likely the careless disposal of smoking material.”

Although it was initially thought that the fire originated by the benches at Bonne Nuit, after reviewing the photo evidence Mr Hall said that the Fire Service now don’t think it started there as images show the “fire burning up above and round the corner from the benches.”