Major fire at landmark Paris Ritz hotel

A major fire has broken out at the landmark Paris Ritz hotel, which is currently closed for renovations, the fire service said Tuesday.

The blaze is on the "top floor of the building and the roof", a fire service spokesman said.

He said no one was staying in the five-star hotel and there were no casualties but a "large" part of the building was affected.

French police officers stand guard next to fire trucks parked near the Ritz Hotel in Paris after a fire broke out at the landmark hotel. (AFP)

Firefighters were called at 6:00am (0500 GMT) to the blaze at the hotel on the Place Vendome, in the heart of Paris' luxury quarter.

Paris police reported a "major fire" on their Twitter account and advised motorists to avoid the area.

The four-storey classically styled hotel, owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, was due to reopen late this year after a three-year closure for top-to-bottom renovations.

A firefighter works on extinguishing a fire at the landmark Ritz Hotel in Paris. (AFP)

The hotel of choice of Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway, where a small bar is named after him, the Ritz is also infamous as the place where Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed dined before their fatal car crash in 1997.

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