Two boys among four dead after 'e-scooter fire' tore through 10-storey housing block in France: Twenty-nine hurt
Two boys are among four people who have died after a fire believed to have been started by an electric scooter tore through a 10-storey housing block in France.
The blaze in Reims, 80 miles north-east of Paris, was so fierce that dozens of firefighters took several hours to get it under control.
Around 29 people are believed to have been injured in the inferno.
A 13-year-old jumped to his death from the 4th-floor apartment where the fire started in the early hours of Friday.
A burned body found inside is believed to be that of his older brother, aged 15, said Reims public prosecutor François Schneider.
An 87-year-old woman and her 59-year-old son who lived on the 8th floor suffocated to death in the smoke, he added.
Two people were seriously injured, including the dead boys' stepfather who was badly burned, and 26 others were treated in hospital for lighter injuries.
Schneider said there is 'no doubt' that the blaze was accidental, spreading quickly from the scooter that caught fire for reasons unknown.
He said the first responders described the fire as a 'scene of war' as people were fleeing in disarray.
Battery fires 'are extremely difficult to extinguish' and the prosecutor confirmed that 62 firefighters battled the blaze for more than three hours.
A resident of the block, named Faïza, told a local radio station her family had narrowly escaped after hearing screams and seeing smoke.
She said: 'The flames took over the building so quickly, we didn't have time. We went downstairs and went straight out with the children.'
Faïza said she was friends with the mother of the teenagers who died and said that the mother was abroad in French Guiana with her youngest child.
She said she had witnessed the body of the boy who jumped from the building.
'His feet were broken. He was burned,' she said.
'His eyes were closed. I could see that he no longer felt the pain. You could see that he was no longer there. He wasn't moving, he wasn't speaking, his eyes were closed.'
Lithium batteries can cause fires if they overheat, become damaged or are improperly manufactured.
Since January, electric scooters have caused at least 50 fires across France, The Telegraph reported.
Earlier this year in the UK, a family's home was destroyed and their pet dog was killed in a fire started by one of the vehicles.
Mother Bernadette, 36, her 16-year-old daughter Lashana, and son Tyrone, 20, were luckily not at home and are currently living with a friend.
The terrifying blaze happened at 10.30am when the battery of a 'top of the range' £1,500 e-scooter exploded while it was charging underneath the stairs.
Flames tore through the three-bed house in West Hampstead, northwest London, on Monday to completely gut the property and turn the family of three's belongings into ashes.
Their pet dog of eight years Tuffy is believed to have died immediately when the Rottweiler-Labrador cross-breed became overcome with fumes.
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'I pulled the toolbox out the way and ran the door, and I thought 'somebody will help me', because I obviously wasn't realising quite how bad it was at that point. 'I ran back upstairs, and I said: 'I've got to get Peggy. Please help me get Peggy.' But my neighbours said 'You've got to get out'. 'I was trying to cover my mouth with my hands and putting my T-shirt over my mouth but because the smoke was so thick I couldn't breathe.' Firefighters rescued Peggy from the house but were unable to resuscitate her, and forensics later told Ms Simpson they believe West used white spirit as an accelerant. Ms Simpson moved in with her son Connor, 28, after the fire and said: 'For about four or five days, I couldn't eat. I just laid on the sofa. I didn't wash, didn't brush my teeth. I was just crying non-stop. I couldn't move off the sofa. I couldn't take it all in.' She now stays between Connor's house and a friend's in nearby Crawley. The council offered her alternative accommodation but she wants to move back into her house once it is repaired, which will take around a year. She said: 'I've lived in that home for 28 years. I raised my son there. I've got good memories there as well.' Her possessions suffered fire, smoke and water damage. Ms Simpson lost personal photos, her mum's ashes, a hairbrush which had her mum's hair still in it, an elephant made for her by her daughter-in-law out of her mum's clothes and Connor's baby clothes she was saving for her grandchildren. West, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at Lewes Crown Court to arson with intent, criminal damage, non-fatal strangulation, common assault and two counts of actual bodily harm on May 2. He was sentenced to six years and three months in jail. Addressing West in court, Ms Simpson said: 'No sentence will ever undo what you have done. No justice will ever bring back my home, my memories, or my beautiful Peggy. 'No punishment will ever restore the life I had before you destroyed it. I will never get back what you took from me. That is a fact both you and I will have to live with for the rest of our lives. 'You will serve your sentence and one day walk free. I will never be free of what you did. And that is the life sentence you have given me.' Ms Simpson is distraught that Peggy's death was not considered in the sentencing and is now campaigning for a change in law to consider companion animals as sentient beings rather than property as they are currently seen. She said: 'Peggy's life was given as much value as a bookcase. 'She was my absolute world. What I used to go through with him, she was the one constant that was there by my side; my best friend.' The Ministry of Justice says it has no plans to change the law. A spokesman for Sussex Police said: 'West was arrested on September 13, 2024, on suspicion of criminal damage and spent the night in custody. He was released without charge as the victim did not wish to sign a statement at the time.'
