A house on rue des Peines Perdues, near Rive Gauche, is in the grip of a fire, we were told around 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Flames and heavy smoke might be seen on the 3rd floor.
One person died in the fire: the occupant of the premises, aged 73, was unable to evacuate her accommodation. When first aid arrived on the scene, it was unfortunately already too late.
However, the firefighters had difficulty reaching the scene of the accident: poorly parked vehicles prevented the trucks from passing, but the narrowness of the street (and a chicane overhung by a lighting pole) also forced the machine to reverse to engage in the street by another access, while men on foot fired lances to the fire. Once there, the deployment of the ladder was also complicated by the presence of crossing cables: it was necessary to use a nacelle to allow intervention at height, in addition to the water sent from the ground.
Part of the school next door – the Notre-Dame Catholic Institute – was evacuated as a precaution, as well as other nearby homes, given the violence of the fire.