200 firefighters battle major Paris inferno

PARIS: A major fire broke out in northern Paris on Monday close to a new court complex, and emergency services called on the public to stay away from the zone.

A thick black cloud of smoke could be seen from across the French capital as firefighters battled the blaze that had ripped through one of the city´s biggest recycling plants. Some 60 fire trucks and 200 firefighters were at the scene, fire brigade said.

Flames lit up the night sky and authorities closed part of the main ring road around Paris to allow access to the burning building for fire-fighting vehicles, Geoffrey Boulard, mayor for the affected 17th arrondissement, told BFMTV.

“The building is completely gutted and destroyed,” he said, but all staff inside had been evacuated. “Fire fighters arrived very quickly, but the fire happened underground and then spread through the building,” Boulard said.

Paris fire brigade said on the X platform that a “major fire” was raging and called on the public to “stay away from the area and let emergency services work.” The fire, in the Syctom recycling plant, was next to Paris´s main court complex. The recycling plant, that started operations in 2019, was designed to handle household waste for nearly a million Paris residents, according to city authorities.