The Marché des Enfants Rouges, the covered food market on the northern edge of the Marais district, was left completely destroyed after the enfants rouges market fire tore through it in the early hours of Monday, and attention has now turned to what the city and the French state will do for the traders who lost everything inside it.

What city hall and the state promised

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire toured the site on Monday and said the market had been completely destroyed. He thanked the firefighters, who battled the blaze for over two hours, for stopping the flames from reaching the buildings packed around it, and he promised to find temporary relocation for the traders so they can resume their business as soon as possible.

The state has also weighed in. Serge Papin, the minister for small businesses and tourism, said on X that the French state would stand alongside Paris City Hall to help with reconstruction.

Traders and manager vow to start over

Inside the market, the loss was felt as a communal one. Ahmed Ouaddi, whose Moroccan couscous stall had stood there for decades, said the traders were a big family and their livelihoods had gone up in smoke. Even as the neighbourhood grew touristy and pricey with gentrification, he said, the market remained its heart and soul.

The market's manager, Alexis Abbou, said he would start over and rebuild the place, and took comfort in the human toll. The only casualty was a firefighter with minor injuries, according to Grégoire.

A neighbourhood that fought for it before

The market, founded in 1615 during the reign of Louis XIII, has been pulled back from the brink before. In the 1990s, a grassroots campaign fought plans to tear it down and replace it with an underground carpark and housing units - a fight that locals still invoke now.

Ariel Weil, mayor of the third arrondissement, recalled that campaign and pointed out that the market had come through an earlier attempt to replace it with a carpark. In his view, the fire will not be the end of it either.

Local pharmacist Virginie Prulhière said it was the oldest and prettiest market in Paris, that everyone loved it and was in shock, and that it symbolised resistance because people had fought to preserve it.

Questions over the response and the cause

Beyond grief, some residents are asking hard questions about the night itself. Authorities said the fire broke out at 3am (01:00 GMT), but the fire brigade did not receive a call until over an hour later.

Residents' concerns centre on:

• •why more of the structure could not be saved
• •the fact that the nearest fire station is located just minutes away

More than 150 firefighters and dozens of vehicles were mobilised to battle the blaze, though narrow alleyways and the surrounding buildings hampered their efforts. The cause of the blaze is not yet known.

For now, the city's pledge stands: temporary relocation so the traders can resume business as soon as possible, with the state backing reconstruction - while the cause of the fire remains unknown.