PARIS --- French police scientists are investigating their first suspected case of "spontaneous combustion"-- and elderly woman reduced to a small pile of ashes and a slippered foot while sitting at home in a wheel chair. The remains of Gisele, a 67-year old widow whose surname was not released, were discovered Nov,17 in the farmhouse near Honfleur where she lived alone. Police found no signs of a break-in and said the house itself appeared untouched by fire although the chair in which the woman apparantly had been sitting also had been reduced to ashes and there were soot traces on the living room walls and ceiling. Her ankle and foot were found, the foot still in its slipper. Michel Savart, director of Lill's police laboratory said yesterday he had no idea what could have caused the fire. " We've never had a case of spontaneous combustion in France. We don't have all the facts or the circumstances of the incident." Studies have shown that a fire needs to reach temperatures of 600 C to consume a human body entirely. "The problem is that a fire hot enough to reduce a body to ashes like this can also destroy all evidence relating to the cause, "Savart said. The most celebrated case of spontaneous combustion took place in Florida in 1951 and has striking similarities to the Honfleur case. A 67 y old woman was reduced to ash, but cotton sheets and a pile of papers in the same room remained unscathed. All that remained of her was her spinal column and a slippered foot. About 300 cases described as spontaneous combustion have been recorded. Source: Daily Telegraph Thursday December10, 1998.