Smoke billows from a fire that broke out Monday at a recycling plant in Paris, France. The fire broke out at the Syctom waste collection plant, the mayor of the city’s 17th arrondissement Geoffroy Boulard confirmed on social media, adding that all personnel had been evacuated as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze. Photo by Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA-EFE
A large fire in Paris sent thick, black smoke billowing over the French capital on Monday as hundreds of firefighters battled flames at one of the city’s largest recycling plants.
“A massive fire that broke out in the basement is underway at the Syctom Paris17 factory,” Geoffroy Boulard, mayor for the 17th arrondissement, wrote Monday in a translated post on X.
“All personnel have been evacuated, intervention is underway. Please avoid the area,” the mayor warned.
Un violent incendie qui s’est déclaré en sous sol est en cours à l’usine @LeSyctom #Paris17 Tous les agents ont été évacués. Intervention des @PompiersParis en cours. Merci d’éviter le quartier. pic.twitter.com/UnrQCQbcmt— Geoffroy Boulard (@geoffroyboulard) April 7, 2025
All of the workers inside the Syctom recycling plant, which is located on the Right Bank of the River Seine in northwest Paris, were safely evacuated. The plant, which opened in 2019, is Europe’s leading public operator of domestic waste for nearly 1 million Paris residents.
“The building is completely gutted and destroyed,” Boulard told BFM television. “Firefighters arrived very quickly, but the fire happened underground and then spread through the building.”
The Syctom recycling plant is located next to Paris’s main court complex, which features a glass skyscraper designed by Italian architect Piano in 2018.
“The most important thing tonight is that a disaster on this scale did not have any human damage,” the site’s president Corentin Dupree told BFM.
Onlookers throughout Paris stopped Monday to watch the flames and smoke, much like they did nearly six years ago when fire destroyed the roof and spire of the Notre Dame cathedral. Following years of restoration, Notre Dame reopened to the public last December.
