Two lighters left between a gymnasium and a school in Étupes on Tuesday afternoon belonged to a 13-year-old student who set fire to the building to avoid a parent-teacher meeting, police said.
The fire broke out at around 4:15 p.m. at the Langevin gymnasium, damaging the nearly 50-year-old structure. L’Est Républicain reported that the boy admitted during his police custody that he planned the act to prevent his parents from discovering behavioral issues.
The meeting was postponed, achieving the student’s immediate goal. However, the eighth-grade student is now barred from returning to Paul-Langevin secondary school, and local officials say the building will likely need to be completely rebuilt over the coming months or years.
The Badminton Club d’Étupes lost all of its equipment and its training venue in the blaze, with damages estimated at a minimum of €13,000. The association used the facility daily for its 110 members.
“We have lost everything,” said Olivier Charles, secretary and treasurer of the badminton club. Charles said that the club, founded in 1992, now faces complete uncertainty regarding its training schedule.
The club has competed at the national level for two decades and features prominent players, including Martina Benešová, who won a European champion title this year in the over-40 category in Cagliari. Olivier Charles said that the sport is currently popular in France, driven by the success of French world number one Christo Popov and other top French players.
Mélanie Daf, vice-president in charge of sports at Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération, worked on alternative arrangements starting Tuesday evening. The Vilquin gymnasium in Étupes and the Portes du Jura gymnasium in Montbéliard are expected to provide temporary training locations.
Regional clubs offered assistance following the incident. A scheduled Téléthon tournament will take place in Châtenois-les-Forges following an invitation from neighboring organizers, and a fundraising campaign opened on Friday to help replace destroyed equipment.
Formal complaints have been filed by the municipality of Étupes, Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération as the owner of this gymnasium and 16 others in the intercommunality, and the badminton club. The student, who had no prior record with law enforcement, faces judicial proceedings following the incident.
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