Apartment inferno kills 10 in Paris, woman held
DEADLIEST IN YEARS
Paris’ deadliest fire in over a decade killed at least 10 people Tuesday as flames engulfed a nine-storey apartment building, sending residents to the roof and clambering across balconies to escape.
A 40-year-old woman who lived in the building, said to have a history of psychiatric problems, was arrested nearby and held on suspicion of having set the fire not long before. French police opened a criminal investigation for voluntary arson resulting in death.
Multiple neighbours said they heard the suspect and her neighbour, an off-duty firefighter, arguing over the woman’s music before the fire broke out.
Police responding to the dispute stopped by the woman’s apartment. The firefighter and his girlfriend told officers they were leaving to sleep elsewhere in peace and thought the neighbour had lost her mind and one day there would be an accident because of her, according to a police report seen by The Associated Press.
In an interview with Le Parisien newspaper, the 22-year-old firefighter said he returned to the building a few minutes later, shortly after midnight, hoping the woman had gone. Instead, he ran into her in the stairwell, which was already beginning to smell of smoke.
“She wished me good luck, telling me that I loved flames,” he recalled in the interview.
Another resident later told him the woman put paper and wood in front of his apartment door, the firefighter told Le Parisien, which did not give his name.
Survivors described a chaos of smoke and flames, and the young firefighter said he ran upstairs to try to evacuate the building. One neighbour recalled clambering out of her eighthfloor apartment and over balconies to reach safety.
“I climbed across several balconies, with nothing beneath, and then was backed into a corner. There were people climbing hand-overhand to get to where I was and escape the flames,” said a resident identified only as Claire, her eyes wide with shock soon after her rescue.
Another resident, an off-duty police officer, threw on clothes and rang doorbell after doorbell, trying desperately to alert his neighbours.
“I couldn’t save everyone. I can’t forgive myself,” the man identified as Fabrice told France Info radio, adding that smoke and flames prevented him from climbing higher than the fourth floor.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner spoke to reporters at the scene Tuesday morning, as plumes of smoke speckled the sky.
“I want to salute the huge mobilization of the Paris firefighters,” he said. “More than 250 people arrived immediately and, throughout the night, saved over 50 people in truly exceptional conditions.”
Authorities suspect the fire resulted from a criminal act, he said.