Man arrested after small fire in Paris park

A 23-year-old man was arrested in Paris after allegedly saying he intended to set fire to the Bois de Boulogne, one of the French capital's largest parks, a police source said.

Police were called late Friday to a fire in the western Paris park. The source said officers found flames spreading from a pile of brushwood to a tree trunk and put them out with fire extinguishers before they could spread further. About one square metre of vegetation was burned.

A man at the scene told police he had intended to set the park alight and was taken into custody, the police source said. Prosecutors said Saturday that his detention had been extended.

The arrest comes as France remains affected by a large wildfire in the Fontainebleau forest southeast of Paris, which burned about 2,200 hectares. Earlier this week, two 18-year-old men, one of them a volunteer firefighter, were placed under formal investigation and remanded in custody on suspicion of deliberately starting fires in two other locations in the area.

Two construction company workers were also charged and placed under judicial supervision for unintentionally starting the first fire in the Fontainebleau forest. More than 32,000 hectares have burned in France since the start of the year, exceeding the area burned during the whole 2025 wildfire season.