Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of starting a fire that swept through an eight-storey apartment building in Paris, killing at least 10 people and injuring 30 others, including eight firefighters.

The woman, who lived in the building, was taken into custody as flames swept rapidly through the block in the French capital’s 16th arrondissement, not far from the Parc des Princes stadium, the home of Paris Saint-Germain football club.

Officials hailed the heroism of firefighters who had to dismantle their ladders and carry them by hand to reach the building, which was at the end of a courtyard with no direct road access.

Without hydraulic machinery, fire crews were forced to unfurl the ladders piece by piece and hook them on to the burning structure to rescue desperate residents from the upper floors.

It was the worst fire in Paris in 14 years. In the Assemblée National, the interior minister, Christophe Castaner, said firefighters had “entirely risked their own lives to save 50 people” from the apartment block.

Police are holding a woman in her 40s who was arrested outside the building shortly after the fire started. They are investigating reports that it was started deliberately.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An image released by the French fire service shows the extent of the top-floor blaze. Photograph: Benoit Moser/AFP/Getty Images

Neighbours reported hearing the woman arguing with another resident who had complained about loud music from her flat late on Monday night. The police were called but officers left without taking any action. The fire started shortly afterwards.

The man who called the police, an off-duty Paris fire officer, said he came face to face with the suspect as she left the building. “She had tried to break my window and door in revenge … when I came across her she told me good luck and said I was a fireman so I must like flames,” he told Le Parisien. “Then I smelled something burning and I realised she’d set the whole floor alight.” He said the woman ran off and he raised the alarm.

He later saw the woman outside, “trying to set fire to two dustbins”.

The Paris prosecutor, Rémy Heitz, said a criminal investigation had been opened. “A person, a woman, who lived in the building has been arrested,” Heitz said. “At this stage, with what we know, the incident appears to be criminal … This person was arrested in the night not far from the fire [and] she is in custody,” Heitz added. The woman had a history of mental health problems, he said.

The fire was reported at about 1am on Tuesday and spread quickly. More than 50 people were thought to be in the building at the time, many of whom became trapped. Some scrambled on to the roof to escape the smoke and flames, while others shouted for help from windows.

It took about 250 firefighters almost five hours to bring the fire under control.

Hugo Puffeney (@puffeney) Les premières photos de l'incendie rue Erlanger à #Paris sont impressionnantes. On voit que plusieurs étages ont été ravagés par les flammes.

Photos B. Moser / BSPP pic.twitter.com/rGb30Q0sUi

“It was a particularly violent fire,” Capt Clement Cognon of the Paris fire service told BFM TV. “The fire has damaged the structure of the building and until we can check, we can’t rule out the risk of it collapsing,” he added.

Emmanuel Grégoire, an official with the city government, said the victims were residents. The fire began on the upper floors and spread to other parts of the building, he added.

The Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said on Twitter that the city was in mourning. The fire comes less than a month after a gas blast in central Paris killed four people, including two firefighters.

In April 2005, a fire in a hotel near the Paris Opera housing many immigrant families killed 24 people, including 11 children.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The fire was brought under control in the early hours of Tuesday morning

Ten people including a baby have died in a fire at an eight-storey building in south-western Paris, officials say.

More than 30 people - including six firefighters - were injured. One person is in a serious condition.

Fifty people were evacuated by ladders from the blaze in the upmarket 16th arrondissement.

Investigators believe the fire - one of the most deadly in the French capital in years - was possibly started deliberately.

A woman detained earlier by police is no longer being questioned and, after undergoing medical and behavioural tests, has been admitted to the psychiatric infirmary of the Paris police, media reports quote the Paris prosecutor as saying.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said the country "had woken up to tragedy", and praised the fire services for their courage.

Rue Erlanger is a residential street close to the Parc des Princes football stadium and the Roland-Garros tennis venue.

How did people escape?

The fire started on the second floor and spread across the block - built in the 1970s, unlike many of the older, classic Parisian buildings nearby - shortly after 01:00 (00:00 GMT), forcing some residents to scramble on to nearby rooftops to escape the flames and smoke.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A survivor describes how she "jumped across balconies" to escape

An eyewitness at the scene told French television:

"The fire alarm went off at 00:30, a little after midnight, and smoke was everywhere already. I live on the eighth floor, the top floor, so I tried to pass from balcony to balcony to get away, And then we huddled up in a corner. Other people climbed up to where I was to escape the flames."

About 250 firefighters were deployed to the scene, not far from the Bois de Boulogne park, helping to rescue those trapped on the roofs. Pictures showed flames coming from the top floor windows and firefighters in breathing apparatus scaling ladders to reach residents.

Rescue efforts were initially hampered by the fact that the apartments on fire were inside an inner courtyard with no vehicle access.

"When we arrived, we were faced with an apocalyptic situation. Lots of people were calling for help from the windows," a spokesman for the fire service said.

Firefighters said the building's courtyard had acted as a funnel, helping the flames to spread from the lower to the upper floors.

Six firefighters are among the injured, officials say.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The fire is one of the deadliest Paris has seen in years

The fire was brought under control after a five-hour operation.

Surrounding buildings in the area have been evacuated as a precaution. Town hall officials have been tasked with finding alternative accommodation.

On Tuesday afternoon, architects working for the Paris police assessed the building and said there was "a serious and imminent danger to the occupants", who are therefore barred from returning for now.

What were the circumstances surrounding the fire?

An investigation has been opened into the criminal charge of causing death by arson.

Several local residents said the fire had started after a dispute between neighbours in the block over loud music.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption It was not immediately known what had caused the fire

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo sent her condolences to the victims, and visited the site on Tuesday morning, along with Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

Just a few weeks earlier, four people were killed after a huge blast at a bakery in the centre of the city.

At the scene of the tragedy

Hugh Schofield, BBC News Paris

This is a well-to-do apartment building in an affluent neighbourhood. Other recent, deadly fires in Paris have been in poor, overcrowded areas where safety norms have clearly being ignored.

By mid-morning, the fire had been extinguished and normal life was resuming. Sounds of children playing came from a schoolyard next door.

The building is on an inner courtyard, so from outside there was no sign at all of the anguish and the drama.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Firefighters were widely praised for saving 50 people from the building

But groups of people were milling about, residents from neighbouring buildings who had been told to leave their homes. They wanted to know when they could go back.

The occasional witness arrived who saw it all: the screaming, the flames, the people on seventh-floor window ledges staring into the void.

They said they wouldn't ever forget.</s>PARIS - At least 10 people died and 30 were injured in an overnight blaze at an apartment block in Paris that police are treating as possible arson, officials said Tuesday (Feb 5).

The fire on the upper floors of the building in the rue Erlanger in the upmarket 16th district of southwest Paris is the most deadly in the capital since 2005.

Videos from the scene showed flames leaping out of top floor windows and firemen climbing flimsy ladders to rescue terrified residents, some dressed only in pyjamas, from the top of the eight-storey block.

Described by one rescue worker as a "scene of incredible violence", the blaze left around 30 people - including six firefighters - injured and at least 10 people have died, the fire service said.

"One person who lives in the building has been arrested. She's a 40-year-old woman who has prior psychological problems," Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said from the scene on Tuesday where smoke could still be seen rising from the area.

An investigation has been opened into the criminal charge of causing death by arson amid fears that the toll could climb further.

The fire started at about 1am (8am, Singapore time) and was only brought under control more than five hours later by around 200 firefighters.

"At first we thought it was a fight, we could hear a woman screaming really loud," a local resident who gave his name as Nicolas told AFP. "She was screaming, screaming and we went outside and the building was already on fire. The firemen had just arrived but what was amazing was that they were completely impotent. They had the trucks, the big ladders, but they couldn't do anything," he said.

Only once they had fitted extenders to their equipment, which needed to be carried manually into the courtyard of the building, were they able to begin rescue operations.

Several times the blaze appeared to have been brought under control before starting again, another witness told AFP.

"The building was very difficult to access," the mayor of the 16th district, Daniele Giazzi, told BFM television as she paid tribute to the young rescue workers who had toiled through the night.

Several local residents said that the fire had been started because of a dispute between neighbours in the block, which was built in the 1970s unlike many of the older, classic Parisian buildings.

"We'll let the police give further information, but it's one of the possibilities being examined by investigators," deputy mayor of Paris Emmanuel Gregoire told RTL radio.

Another local resident, 46-year-old builder Jose Emilien, was standing at a police cordon anxiously seeking news of his cousin and nephew who lived on the sixth floor of the building.

"I called both of them," he told AFP. "They're not picking up and I don't have any news."

The wealthy neighbourhood is home to several private schools and lies on the edge of the vast Bois de Boulogne park.

It is close to the stadium of football club Paris Saint-Germain, the Parc des Princes, and the Roland Garros complex used for the French Open tennis tournament.

"France is waking up with emotion after the fire on the rue Erlanger in Paris," President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. "Thoughts for the victims. Thank you to the firefighters whose courage helped save many lives."

The fire is the most deadly since 2005 when an arson at a building in the 13th district of the city killed 17 people, including 14 children.

The blaze follows a powerful gas explosion last month that killed four people in the city's central 9th district.

Fire service spokesman Captain Clement Cognon told AFP that firefighters were yet to fully search the upper floors of the block.

"We had to carry out many rescues, notably for around a dozen people who had taken refuge on the roofs. In total about 50 people were evacuated by firefighters," he added.

Two adjacent buildings were also evacuated as a precaution and local officials were on site to help find housing for residents who could not return to their homes. Several streets were still cordoned off by police and fire crews on Tuesday morning.</s>PARIS (Reuters) - Flames tore through an apartment block in Paris, killing at least 10 residents in the early hours of Tuesday, after what prosecutors said looked like an arson attack.

Police said they arrested a 40-year-old woman who lived in the building on suspicion of starting the blaze in the upscale 16th arrondissement.

Firefighters in breathing apparatus scaled ladders to rescue people stranded on balconies on the eight-storey block on Rue Erlanger. Some were hoisted down on ropes and at least one person abseiled to safety.

Franceinfo radio reported that a child was among the dead, although there was no official confirmation. Another 36 people were injured, including firefighters, authorities said.

“It was a particularly violent fire,” Captain Clement Cognon of the Paris fire service told BFM TV.

Rescue crews edged along outer ledges as colleagues sprayed water onto the upper levels of the building. Officers escorted residents down smoke-filled passageways and evacuated people from neighboring buildings, TV footage showed.

The fire started on the upper floors after midnight and was under control by 0800 GMT, officials said. Smoke kept rising from the blackened building through the morning.

Paris Prosecutor Remy Heitz said investigators believed the fire was started deliberately and a woman had been detained. He said the woman had mental health issues.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Twitter that the city was in mourning after the fire, which came less than a month after a gas blast in the capital killed four people.

Rue Erlanger is near the Parc des Princes soccer stadium and Roland Garros, the French Open tennis venue.</s>PARIS: Eight people have died and 30 have been injured in an overnight blaze at an apartment block in Paris that is being treated by police as a possible arson attack, officials said Tuesday.

The fire on the top floors of an eight-storey building in the rue Erlanger in the upmarket 16th district of southwest Paris is one of the most deadly in the capital in years.

Pictures from the fire brigade showed flames leaping out of top floor windows and firemen climbing flimsy ladders to rescue terrified residents from thick black smoke.

Described as a "scene of incredible violence", the blaze left around 30 people -- including six firefighters -- with injuries.

"One person has been arrested. It's a woman. She's currently in custody," Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said from the scene on Tuesday morning where smoke could still be seen rising from the area.

An investigation has been opened into the criminal charge of causing death by arson.

The fire started at about 1:00 am (0000 GMT) and was finally brought under control more than five hours later by around 200 firefighters.

"At first we thought it was a fight, we could hear a woman screaming really loud," a local resident who gave his name as Nicolas told AFP.

"She was screaming, screaming and we went outside and the building was already on fire. The firemen had just arrived but what was amazing was that they were completely impotent.

"They had the trucks, the big ladders, but they couldn't do anything," he explained.

Only once they had fitted extenders to their equipment were they able to begin rescue operations, including people who had sought refuge on the roofs of nearby buildings, he said.

The witness repeated a rumour in the area that the fire had been started because of a dispute between neighbours.

"We'll let the police give further information, but it's one of the possibilities being examined by investigators," deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, told RTL radio.

Another local resident, Jose Emilien, was standing at a police cordon on Tuesday morning anxiously seeking news of his cousin and nephew who lived on the sixth floor of the building.

"I called both of them," he told AFP. "They're not picking up and I don't have any news."

The neighbourhood is home to several private schools and lies on the edge of the vast Bois de Boulogne park.

It is close to the stadium of football club Paris Saint-Germain, the Parc des Princes, and the Roland Garros complex used for the French Open tennis tournament.

"Paris is in mourning this morning," mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted.

She along with other politicians including Interior Minister Christophe Castaner were expected to visit the scene amid fears the death toll could rise further.

Fire service spokesman Captain Clement Cognon told AFP overnight that firefighters were yet to search the upper floors of the block.

He added: "We had to carry out many rescues, notably for around a dozen people who had taken refuge on the roofs. In total about 50 people were evacuated by firefighters, including through the installation of ladders."

Two adjacent buildings were also evacuated as a precaution and local officials were on site to help find housing for residents who could not return to their homes.

Several streets were still cordoned off by police and fire crews on Tuesday morning.

The blaze follows a fire caused by a powerful gas explosion last month that killed four people in the city's central 9th arrondissement.

In late December, two women and two girls died from asphyxiation in a fire that broke out in a public housing block in a suburb northeast of Paris.</s>Paris: A woman is being held for a suspected "revenge arson attack" on a Paris apartment block in which 10 people are so far confirmed to have died, with 33 injured.

At least one of the victims was a "young child", according to the local mayor.

The fire, which broke out on Tuesday morning, Paris time, on the upper floors of the building in the rue Erlanger in the upmarket 16th district of south-west Paris, is the most deadly in the capital since 2005.</s>Paris’ deadliest fire in over a decade claimed 10 lives, sending fleeing residents to the roof to escape the flames that engulfed their apartment building before dawn Tuesday.

A 40-year-old female resident, said to have a history of psychiatric problems, was detained near the eight-story building in the quiet neighbourhood as police opened an investigation into voluntary arson resulting in death.

It is the deadliest fire in Paris since the April 2005 hotel fire near the capital’s famed Opera that killed 24 people.

French President Emmanuel Macron took to Twitter to express that “France wakes up with emotion after the fire in rue Erlanger in Paris last night.”

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner was the highest-ranking official on the scene, 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.”

Firefighters rescued some from the roof as well as others who had clambered out of windows to escape the flames.

Castaner said the blaze that started on the second floor had been extinguished, and that over 30 people were being treated for “relatively” light injuries.

“I heard a woman screaming in the street, crying and screaming for help,” said witness Jacqueline Ravier, who lives across the street. She saw a young man blackened by smoke and a woman motionless on the ground. She said flames were shooting out for hours from the top of the building and smoke-covered victims were fleeing.

She said shaken residents were brought to her building and the one next door while firefighters continued to fight the flames.

“We feel the smoke,” she said. “What’s surprising is how long it lasted.”

City fire service spokesman Clement Cognon told The Associated Press that firefighters went door-to-door to ensure there are no more victims and to prevent residual fires.

“The situation was already dramatic when the firefighters arrived,” Cognon said.

Emergency workers are also seeking to shore up the building that was badly damaged after flames shot out of windows stretching across the upper floors, in images of the operation released by the fire service.

Prosecutor Remy Heitz told reporters at the scene that authorities suspect it was a criminal act.

Castaner said the woman detained had “a history of psychiatric problems.”

Among the injured were at least eight firefighters, according to the Paris firefighters.

The building is on Rue Erlanger in the 16th arrondissement, one of the most high-end and calmest districts of Paris. It is close to the popular Bois de Boulogne park and about 1 kilometre (less than a mile) from the Roland Garros stadium that hosts the French Open tennis tournament and near the Parc de Princes stadium that’s home to Paris Saint-Germain, the country’s top soccer team.

Paris police said the street was blocked off and neighbouring buildings were also evacuated as the firefighters worked to put out the blaze.

The fire comes a month after a deadly explosion and blaze linked to a gas leak in a Paris bakery.

In September 2015, there was a fire in a northern neighbourhood that left eight dead.</s>Officials in France have confirmed at least 10 people have died in a suspected arson attack in Paris.</s>PARIS (Reuters) - Flames ripped through an apartment block in Paris, killing at least eight people and injuring 36 early on Tuesday, authorities said.

Prosecutors said they suspected the fire was a criminal act and a woman had been detained during investigations.

Firefighters scaled ladders to rescue residents from balconies on the eight-storey block on Rue Erlanger, near the Parc des Princes soccer stadium and the Roland Garros French Open tennis venue.

Red flames roared through windows into the early hours of the morning as scores of firefighters sprayed water onto the building in the capital’s chic 16th district.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said around 0800 GMT that the fire was now “totally under control”.

City government official Emmanuel Gregoire said the fire began on the upper floors shortly after midnight, and that the victims were all residents.

“It was a particularly violent fire,” Captain Clement Cognon of the Paris fire service told BFM TV.

Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz told reporters that investigators suspected a “criminal” cause for the fire and that a woman, aged 40 and known to have history of mental health problems, has been placed in custody.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Twitter that the city was in mourning after the fire which came less than a month after a gas blast in central Paris killed four people.</s>At least 10 people have been killed Tuesday as flames engulfed a nine-storey apartment building in Paris, 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.

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 on Monday.

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.

The building is on rue Erlanger in the 16th arrondissement, one of the calmest and priciest districts of Paris.

It was the deadliest fire in Paris since the April 2005 hotel fire near the capital's famed Opera that killed 24 people.

Over 30 people were being treated for "relatively" light injuries. Among the injured were at least eight firefighters.

Survivors described a chaos of smoke and flames, and the young firefighter said he ran upstairs to try and evacuate the building.

One neighbour recalled clambering out of her eighth-floor 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-over-hand 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.

Jacqueline Ravier, who lives on the same street as the apartment building, described seeing a young man blackened by smoke and a woman motionless on the ground.

Officials said suspect had "a history of psychiatric problems".

A judicial official told the AP the woman was drunk when officers detained her.

A police patrol responding to a rubbish can fire around the same time spotted the woman with her hand in another rubbish can, according to a second police report obtained by The AP.

She was staring at the firetrucks streaming toward the building, the document states. The young firefighter said he saw her as well.

"She was waiting to see what would happen," he said in the newspaper interview.

The document says the officers put the woman under brief surveillance and detained her at 12.45am on Tuesday after she allegedly tied a scarf around a car's rear-view mirror and raised a cigarette lighter to it.
A fire in an apartment block in Paris, France, kills ten and leaves over 30 wounded. The incident is being treated as possible arson. A woman was arrested on suspicion of setting the fire.