PARIS — At least three people have been killed in a fire that broke out in a retirement home near Paris on Saturday, according to the town mayor.

A further eight people were injured in the blaze at the residence located in the town of Bouffémont.

“This is a serious event for our town,” Mayor Michel Lacoux said. “It seems to have been an accident.”

Lacoux said the fire was under control at the residence, which was home to 75 elderly residents.

Speaking to BFM TV, he said the fire is thought to have started in a laundry room and spread to part of the third floor of the building.

Commandant Adrien Ponin-Sinapayen, spokesman for France’s civil defense agency, said the fire was extinguished after 140 firefighters were deployed to the scene.