Paris fire: Blaze erupts in heart of France's capital as flames and smoke seen from miles

A huge fire erupted on Monday evening at a waste collection centre in . According to reports, the fire engulfed Syctom waste collection. According to , the organisation is a French local public authority and the leading European public operator in domestic waste management.

It has six sorting centres and three incineration and energy recovery units. It processes 2.3 million tonnes of municipal waste from six million inhabitants of the Île-de-France region, including Paris. reported the building that caught fire was put into service in June 2019. It is a "high capacity and automated" centre that prepares the waste of more than 900,000 residents for recycling.

The Paris Fire Department issued an alert on social media asking the public to "avoid the area to allow emergency services to work".

In a statement, they said: "A major fire is currently underway on Boulevard de Douaumont in #Paris17.

"Avoid the area to let emergency services do their work. Residents, stay cautious."

They later added that residents nearby should close the windows and avoid any intense physical activity.

According to reports from the French media, firefighters were dispatched to the scene and two aerial platforms were deployed to try to extinguish the blaze.

One journalist at the scene said that the "wooden beams looked like they're about to collapse".

As a result, a nearby ring road was closed in both directions to facilitate the firefighters' response.

Corentin Duprey, the president of Syctom, told BFMTV that the fire started in an underground area where newspapers and magazines were stored. He later added that "the building could not be saved" but all 31 workers who were inside were safely evacuated with no injuries.

The flames were eventually contained after firefighters spent hours trying to keep them from spreading.

The Paris Fire Department deployed significant resources with around 60 engines 200 firefighters attending the scene.

Videos on social media showed huge flames engulfing the industrial building.

Thick smoke could also be seen rising high above the French capital.