Six months after the Marseille fire, victims denounce the "extreme slowness" of the procedures.

To date, "no work has been able to be undertaken due to the extreme slowness of the conduct of the expert assessments and counter-assessments by the various insurance companies involved," laments the "Association of Victims of the July 8 Fire in Marseille" in a statement published Tuesday.

On that day, in Marseille, stricken by the heatwave, a fire swept through 750 hectares and caused significant damage in the town of Pennes-Mirabeau, then in the district of L'Estaque: more than 90 homes were affected and the vast majority of them were declared "uninhabitable" by local authorities in France's second largest city.

Six months later, in the picturesque and popular neighborhood with elegant villas overlooking the Mediterranean and the port, some houses still show the scars: collapsed roofs, a charred cinder block structure.

Formed in mid-December, following the lead of a collective that came to the aid of disaster victims, the association wants "to become the interlocutor of public authorities and insurance companies, in order to ensure better monitoring and better care for disaster victims."

To this end, she is calling on the authorities for a "Local Committee for Victim Assistance" (Clav), a structure guaranteeing monitoring of assistance mechanisms, particularly in terms of compensation and support in administrative procedures.

Contacted by AFP, the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture confirmed that a CLAV (Local Action Committee) meeting would be held. A first meeting could potentially take place in early February, according to a source close to the matter.

The association has identified 478 people "affected" to varying degrees, explains its president, Mathilde Favier. "Not everyone had to leave their home, but there are still almost 100 uninhabitable houses."

She can't go home. "Everything needs to be redone: the floor, the paint. We had to throw away all the furniture; there's no roof anymore, the entire first floor burned down," she laments. "We're talking about several hundred thousand euros."

For his temporary accommodation, his insurance covers 12 months of rent. However, depending on the insurance policy, some residents have less coverage.

The association is demanding explanations for "the extremely late intervention of the emergency services," explains Ms. Favier. "There were no firefighters, no Canadair water bombers for hours."

"We need to understand what happened. Simply because if there was a malfunction (...) we need to make sure that it doesn't happen again."