French authorities are investigating a suspected deliberate fire that caused widespread power outages on Saturday in the southeast of the country, including the city of Cannes, which is hosting the 78th edition of its film festival.
The National Gendarmerie clarified that they are examining the possibility of criminal activity, noting that the investigations are still ongoing with no arrests made so far. The incident occurred in the morning, disrupting traffic signals and halting several facilities, as teams from the French RT O network rushed to fix the fault affecting more than 160,000 households.
Local authorities reported that the western part of the Alpes-Maritimes region, which includes Cannes, was particularly impacted by the outage. A local official mentioned on X that the blackout is “significant and is being addressed.”
The network operator confirmed that the outage began around 10 a.m., affecting numerous towns surrounding the city, raising concerns ahead of the festival’s closing ceremony.
Despite the crisis, Cannes Film Festival organizers affirmed that the closing ceremony will proceed as scheduled, stating that the Palais des Festivals has been converted into an independent power source to secure the events.
The festival, which commenced on May 13, will conclude its activities Saturday evening with the official award ceremony amidst technical measures to mitigate the effects of the emergency incident.
