Worst Paris fire in 14 years is suspected arson attack

PARIS (AP) — Paris’ deadliest fire in over a decade claimed at least 10 lives Tuesday, sending fleeing residents to the roof and clambering across balconies as flames rapidly engulfed their nine-story apartment building.

A 40-year-old female resident of the building, said to have a history of psychiatric problems, was arrested on the street in the hours after the 1 a.m. blaze, as French police opened a criminal investigation into voluntary arson resulting in death.

Officials said the unnamed woman, who is in police custody, was drunk.

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, then heard the woman cry out: “So you’re a firefighter? Here’s a fire.”

Police responding to the dispute between the neighbours, who both live on the third floor, had stopped by the woman’s apartment earlier in the night.

The firefighter and his girlfriend told officers they were leaving to go sleep elsewhere in peace and warned them that 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.

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