The origin of the fire in Grasse’s historic center was not immediately clear.
It only affected the top three floors of the building whose facade was partially blackened by the flames. Firefighters were alerted by local residents at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT). They found the body of a person who had jumped out in front of the edifice and two other corpses inside.
“An alarm started beeping and then I heard cries,” said Martine, a woman who lives in an adjoining building and who only gave one name.
“A woman cried out for help shouting ‘Fire!’ and asked me to call the fire service, which is what I did. A man from the floor above tried to come down to avoid the flames but he fell,” she added.