Church of Herblay Targeted by Criminal Fire
The Church of St. Martin, in Herblay, was the target of an arson attack on Thursday, March 8th, 2011. The fire was started in three different areas of the church but was stopped in time by a parishioner.
Gilda was about to leave the church when a man came to alert her: "He came to tell me that there was a fire in the church. I went to see and it was already burning in three different places. Smoke had invaded the church. I started by stopping the fire which was burning at the altar."Firefighters arrived in time to finish extinguishing the fires and to remove the smoke that had accumulated in the nave.
The church is dated from the early XIIth century and has a VIIth century Merovingian necropolis. Bishop of Pontoise, Mgr Jean-Yves Riocreux said he was emotionally very moved by such news.
Sources:
http://faj.hautetfort.com/archive/2012/03/12/herblay-incendie-criminel-dans-l-eglise-du-xiie-siecle.html
http://lesalonbeige.blogs.com/my_weblog/