Fire at a retirement home near Paris leaves 3 dead and 9 injured

People walk across the Pont des Arts in front of the Eiffel Tower during sunset, in Paris, France, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard) (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

PARIS — Three people have been killed in a fire that broke out in a retirement home near Paris on Saturday, according to the town mayor.

The three victims were residents aged 68, 85 and 96, the Val-d’Oise prefecture said, adding that they died as a result of smoke inhalation.

A further nine people were injured in the blaze at the residence located in the town of Bouffémont.

The nine injured included seven residents and two staff members who inhaled the smoke, the prefecture added. Eight of them were transported to various hospitals in the Paris region.

“This is a serious event for our town,” Mayor Michel Lacoux said, speaking to BFM TV. “It seems to have been an accident.”

Lacoux said the fire was under control. It is thought to have started in a laundry room before spreading to part of the third floor, he said.

Commandant Adrien Ponin-Sinapayen, spokesman for France’s civil defense agency, said the fire was extinguished after 140 firefighters were deployed to the scene.