Arson suspected as Clermont-Ferrand building fire injures seven

A fire that broke out in an apartment block in central Clermont-Ferrand before dawn on Friday injured seven people and destroyed the building's roof, staircase and upper floors, French authorities said.

The blaze started shortly after 3am in a flat at 11 impasse Perrier, near the Place de la Victoire, and spread through the five-storey building, the Puy-de-Dôme prefecture said. The alley was too narrow for fire engines to approach directly, making the operation particularly difficult; around 60 firefighters were eventually deployed, along with a drone and a specialist search-and-rescue unit.

Six people were treated for smoke inhalation and one was injured escaping through a window; all had what officials described as minor injuries, the prefecture said. Prosecutors said six residents were hospitalised. About thirty residents of neighbouring buildings were evacuated as a precaution and taken in by the municipality.

A 21-year-old man was arrested a few hours after the fire began and was placed in police custody during the morning, the Clermont-Ferrand prosecutor's office said. Initial findings by investigators point to a possible criminal origin for the fire, and a flagrante délicto investigation has been opened to establish the exact circumstances.

Mayor Julien Bony said search efforts were continuing for four residents still unaccounted for in what he called a severely weakened building. Prosecutors said checks were continuing throughout Friday to determine whether there were other victims, and investigators were also working to establish how the blaze spread so quickly through the building's upper floors.

The prefecture said officials used the drone to assess the risk to the structure before sending rescue teams back inside to continue the search. Access to the nearby Place Sugny was closed for the rest of the morning to allow emergency crews to work, and a senior aide to the regional prefect travelled to the scene to oversee the response.