Fire engulfs Notre Dame Cathedral
A fast-moving fire consumed the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday night in a roaring blaze that devastated the Parisian landmark, a searing loss for the city and for France.
Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof.
A huge plume of smoke wafted across the city and ash fell over a large area as stunned Parisians and tourists watched in sheer horror.
Some were in tears, others offered prayers from the banks of the river Seine as the muchloved attraction at the heart of the City of Light was consumed by the inferno.
“This is really sad – the saddest thing I’ve ever stood and watched in my life,” British tourist Sam Ogden, 50, who had come to visit the cathedral with her family, said.
Gasps and cries of “Oh my God” erupted about an hour after the fire broke out when the top portion of the church’s spire came crashing down.
“It looked tiny to begin with, then within an hour it all came down,” Ogden said.
By 11pm, it was reported that firefighters expected that the structure might be saved but that it would take a further three hours to contain the fire.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed but the cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be to blame.
“Paris is disfigured.
“The city will never be like it was before,” a communications worker in his mid-30s, who had biked over after being alerted to the fire by a friend, said.
“It’s a tragedy ... if you pray, now is the time to pray.”
President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday night and headed to the scene.
In a tweet, he expressed the “emotion of a whole nation” on seeing the Notre Dame ablaze.
“Like all my compatriots, I am sad to see a part of us burn this evening,” he said, expressing solidarity with “all Catholics and French people”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the Notre Dame Cathedral a “symbol of European culture” as the blaze raged.
Firefighters tried to contain the blaze with water hoses and cleared the area around the Notre Dame, which sits on an island in the Seine and marks the very centre of Paris.
Witnesses said the whole island was being evacuated.
No-one was injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had launched an inquiry into the fire.
France 2 television reported that police were treating it as an accident.
“Everything is collapsing,” a police officer near the scene said as the cathedral continued to burn. The cathedral, dating
back to the 12th century, features in Victor Hugo’s classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
It is a World Heritage site that attracts millions of tourists each year.
“I have a lot of friends who live abroad and every time they come I tell them to go to the Notre Dame,” witness Samantha Silva said, with tears in her eyes.
“I’ve visited it many times, but it will never be the same. It’s a real symbol of Paris.”
The cathedral was in the midst of renovations, with some sections under scaffolding, and bronze statues were removed last week for works.
Built over a century starting in 1163, the Notre Dame is considered to be among the finest examples of French Gothic cathedral architecture.
It is renowned for its rib vaulting, flying buttresses and stunning stained glass windows, as well as its many carved stone gargoyles. Its 100m-long roof was one of the oldest such structures in Paris, the cathedral website says.
“There are a lot of art works inside, it’s a real tragedy,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said at the scene. –