PARIS: Around 60 firemen were fighting a fire in the roof of the luxury Ritz Paris hotel in Place Vendome, central Paris, on Tuesday, officials said.
A spokesman for the Paris fire authorities said there were no casualties. The Ritz Paris was due to re-open this year after more than three years of renovation work.
"The main aim is to stop the fire from spreading, a fire service spokesman said.
The former home of fashion designer Coco Chanel and author Marcel Proust - and a favourite drinking hole of American writer Ernest Hemingway - the Ritz Paris was last renovated over a decade beginning in 1979 after its purchase by tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Reuters