Disastrous Fire Consumes Pavilion of French Basketball Club Gravelines-Dunkerque

The pavilion of the Gravelines-Dunkerque club was consumed by fire

A raging fire completely destroyed the sports facilities of the BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque club, which participates in the professional basketball league in France. The incident occurred on Monday, November 25, in the middle of the Christmas celebrations, and reduced the Sportica pavilion, located in the northern region of the European country, to ashes.

The Gravelines institution shared on its social networks some of the images that demonstrated the severity of the fire, in which no fatalities were recorded, and they thanked the quick action of the city’s firefighters who were able to contain the flames.

“Thank you all for your messages of support. The firefighters are doing everything possible to put out this horrible fire that is destroying our Sportica… Thanks to these heroes, we send them all our strength,” they published from the BCM Basketball X account. Once the news was known, different institutions in France expressed solidarity with their peers from Gravelines-Dunkirque.

According to French media, the flames began at 1 p.m. in the pool area of ​​the Sportica sports complex. “The fire quickly spread to the rest of the facilities, releasing thick and very impressive black smoke from above the city, visible for several kilometers,” reported the newspaper Le Parisien.

The stadium of Gravelines-Dunkerque, a French basketball team, suffered a serious fire (@BCMBasket)

The incident was so large that 47 support vehicles had to be mobilized so that the 90 firefighters could battle the flames and avoid a major catastrophe on a property that has 25,000 square meters. After an arduous fight of more than five hours, the fire was contained, which ended up destroying the French team’s basketball stadium and other sectors of the complex.

“It was a very serious fire and everything will probably have to be rebuilt,” said the mayor of Gravelines, Bertrand Ringot, in a statement to France Bleu Nord. In addition, the leader indicated that the fire started due to a technical problem in the pool and that the wind helped the flames spread throughout the property. “More than 1,000 square meters are affected,” reported the Northern Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS).

Another voice after the disaster was that of the executive director of the BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque, Hervé Beddelem, who defined the scene as dramatic: “It is my entire life disappearing. We are all in shock, we still don’t even understand the importance of what just happened to us. We are surprised by the severity of this fire. Even the players’ shoes burned,” he said.

The stadium of the BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque, French basketball team (@BCMBasketball)
2023-12-25 23:47:00
#raging #fire #completely #destroyed #basketball #stadium #France #players #shoes #burned