Politic?

Offending Sociopathic Neighbours

"[A criminal investigation had been opened.] A person, a woman, who lived in the building has been arrested."
"At this stage, with what we know, the incident appears to be criminal … This person was arrested in the night not far from the fire [and] she is in custody. [The woman had a history of mental health problems]."
Paris prosecutor, Rémy Heitz

"She had tried to break my window and door in revenge … when I came across her she told me good luck and said I was a fireman so I must like flames."
"Then I smelled something burning and I realised she’d set the whole floor alight."
"[I later saw the woman outside], trying to set fire to two dustbins."
Off-duty Paris firefighter, resident, apartment building

"It was a particularly violent fire."
"The fire has damaged the structure of the building and until we can check, we can’t rule out the risk of it collapsing."
Capt Clement Cognon, Paris fire service

"I climbed across several balconies, with nothing beneath, and then was backed into a corner."
"There were people climbing hand-over-hand to get to where I was and escape the flames."
Claire, building resident

Should anyone, aware that something isn't quite right about a neighbour, risk alienating and offending them beyond what any sane person could imagine, if their behaviour impacts on your own quality of life, living in a shared structure like an apartment building? People do have an obligation of courtesy to others, not to infringe on the comfort and quality of life of other people through indulging in acts that will impact others, and noise is certainly one of those offences.

In this instance, a young firefighter who lived in an apartment building, approached a neighbour, a 40-year-old woman who didn't appreciate his complaint that loud music emanating from her apartment was disturbing and making it very difficult for him and his girlfriend to enjoy the comfort of their own home, much less enabling them to get a good night's sleep. Who could imagine that a request for consideration of others would result in a deadly fire set in malicious spite?

A fire deliberately set to teach a young man a 'lesson' against impinging on the sensitivities of someone living in close proximity whose own sensibilities were obviously set in opposition to any reasonable request to tamp down night-time noise levels. The lesson was that ten people lost their lives when flames engulfed the nine-storey apartment building, causing panicked residents to clamber dangerously over and around balconies and climbing to the building's roof in a risky attempt to escape the flames.

The fire that ensued represented the deadliest fire in over ten years that the city of Paris has had to contend with. The responding fire crews unfurled their rescue ladders bit by bit to hook them to the structure, risking their own safety in a bid to rescue residents from the building's burning upper floors. No fewer than 50 people were secured and taken to safety by emergency personnel, the firefighters who saw their obligation as saving lives in a catastrophic fire that took five hours to bring under control by over 250 firefighters deployed to the scene.

Neighbours later recounted overhearing the woman and her off-duty firefighter neighbour arguing over the loudly intrusive music coming from the woman's apartment prior to the fire. Police were called and in responding to the dispute were informed by the young man that he and his girlfriend were leaving the apartment to find peaceful sleep somewhere other than in their apartment. They felt the neighbour had lost her mind, they added, and one day an accident would occur because of her behaviour. That 'accident' wasn't long in coming.

Parisians firefighters in action after a fire broke out at an apartment in the 16th district of western Paris, France, 05 February 2019. EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON

The 22-year-old firefighter recounted returning to the building shortly afterward around midnight, in hopes that the woman herself had left the building. He ran into her in the stairwell, where smoke was already becoming evident. "She wished me good luck, telling me that I loved flames", he recalled. Later yet, another resident informed the young man that the woman had placed paper and wood in front of his apartment door to create a fire.

After he had come across the woman on her way down the stairwell as he ran to the upper floor where his apartment was located, he attempted to evacuate the building, alerting people to the fire. An off-duty police officer, another apartment resident, rang doorbell after doorbell, hoping to alert as many people as possible to escape the building as fire spread and chaos broke out among the residents. "I couldn't save everyone, I can't forgive myself", the man said of the smoke and flames that kept him from climbing beyond the fourth floor.

"I want to salute the huge mobilization of the Paris firefighters. More than 250 people arrived immediately and, throughout the night, saved over fifty people in truly exceptional conditions."
Christophe Castaner, French Interior Minister