A fire broke out on Monday, October 5, in a building on Rue Louis Plana in Toulouse, France, causing six people to be injured. The building, which was illegally occupied, is owned by Toulouse Métropole, the local government authority responsible for urban planning and development. The building had been occupied since November 2024, and the city has criticized the legal challenges that prevented an earlier evacuation. According to Toulouse City Hall, the fire might have been avoided if a previous order to vacate the premises had not been suspended by a court in July of last year. Jean-Charles Piteau, a deputy mayor in charge of addressing issues related to homelessness, squatting, and encampments, said that if the city's evacuation decree had not been legally challenged and if the administrative court had not paused it, the current situation would not have occurred. The city claims that this is the third fire in the same building, and after the first two incidents, the local fire and rescue service, known as SDIS, issued a report warning about the dangers posed by the building and the unsafe conditions of its occupation. Following the first two fires, then-mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc issued a decree requiring the immediate evacuation of the building. However, this decree was quickly contested by the groups supporting the people living in the building. In response, the Toulouse administrative court decided to suspend the immediate evacuation order in July, citing that the occupants had started work on the building after the decree was issued. A new decree was then introduced, mandating the evacuation and prohibiting anyone from living in or entering the building. The city now states that the building is secured, and access is strictly forbidden. The situation has raised concerns about the challenges of managing illegal occupations and the legal processes that can delay necessary actions to ensure public safety.