Warehouse fire in Bobigny sends thick black smoke over Paris, no casualties reported
A large fire destroyed a 4,000 m² warehouse in Bobigny on Wednesday, sending thick smoke visible across Paris while 150 firefighters battled for hours with no reported casualties.
Fire breaks out in Bobigny warehouse
On Wednesday, 17 June, a fire erupted shortly after 13:00 in a two-storey warehouse in the Vignes industrial zone of Bobigny, a northeastern suburb of Paris. The building at 39 rue Henri Gautier spans approximately 4,000 m² and houses around ten to fourteen businesses, including furniture makers, kitchen equipment suppliers, food wholesalers, and a professional restaurant equipment firm.
Firefighting response
The Paris fire brigade (BSPP) dispatched 150 firefighters and about fifty vehicles to the scene. Upon arrival, the entire structure was engulfed in flames. Firefighters expected to remain on site for several hours, using extensive water resources to contain the blaze and prevent its spread. The BSPP noted that fires of this kind typically end with the building’s collapse.
No casualties have been reported at this stage of the operation and no missing persons have been flagged.
Thick black smoke visible across Paris
The fire produced a column of thick black smoke that rose several hundred metres and was visible from landmarks throughout the capital, including the Eiffel Tower, roughly 15 km away. Local residents were advised to keep their windows shut. Toxicological analyses triggered by the authorities all came back below regulatory thresholds.
We triggered toxicological analyses which are all below regulatory thresholds. So that is reassuring.
No casualties
As of early afternoon, no injuries or fatalities had been recorded. The prefecture urged the public to avoid the area. A security perimeter restricted access to the commercial zone, and some nearby activities, such as a football training session, were cancelled to prevent inhalation of smoke.
Eyewitness accounts
An employee of a restaurant equipment company inside the warehouse recounted how workers attempted to extinguish the flames with fire extinguishers before the fire service arrived. “It’s the work of a lifetime going up in smoke,” she said, referring to the fourteen enterprises that relied on the storage space. A local teenager reported hearing seven explosions and seeing high flames leaping from the roof, while another worker described how the fire spread so rapidly that the entire staff had to evacuate within 20 to 30 minutes. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
