A 23-year-old man was placed in custody on Friday evening after lighting a fire in the Bois de Boulogne with the stated intention of setting the area ablaze.
Police were alerted on Friday evening around 11 p.m. to a fire starting in Paris's 16th arrondissement. Officers found flames on a pile of brush spreading to a tree trunk. They contained and extinguished the fire with extinguishers, limiting damage to one square meter of burned vegetation and a blackened trunk.
The man found at the scene was arrested. He told police he had intended to set the Bois de Boulogne on fire. He was placed in custody for voluntary damage by fire.
His custody was extended on Saturday evening, the Paris prosecutor's office said. The investigation was assigned to the 16th arrondissement police station.
