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Notre Dame Cathedral Is Burning
This is a fast-moving story, and absolutely devastating development during Holy Week. The BBC reports:
A fire has broken out at the famous Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, firefighters say.
The cause is not yet clear, but officials say it could be linked to renovation work.
Images on social media show plumes of smoke billowing into the air above the the 850-year-old Gothic building.
BREAKING; a major fire has broken out at #NotreDame Cathedral #Paris pic.twitter.com/3VZjmGlO52 pic.twitter.com/Jj4OYAX5kR
— Global Independent News (@GlobalinNews) April 15, 2019
DEVELOPING: Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral is on fire, with roof and spire of the nearly 900-year-old cathedral engulfed in flames https://t.co/fqbTzjK6vp pic.twitter.com/GzHsMKh6TN
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) April 15, 2019
#NotreDame: 'The roof has entirely collapsed, there are flames coming out the back of the cathedral as if it was a torch'@charli, Journalist at France 24, at the scene of the fire. pic.twitter.com/2B0IrMiDcL
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) April 15, 2019
Update: 8:23PM in Paris
Shep Smith on Fox News just reported that Paris fire fighters are just now beginning to get water on Notre Dame nearly three hours after the blaze was first reported.
Update 8:26PM in Paris
Notre Dame Spokesman: “Entire wooden interior of cathedral is burning, likely to be destroyed. Everything is burning. Nothing will remain from the frame.”
Update 9:12PM in Paris
The fire has spread to one of the two iconic bell towers, according to reports.
Published in Culture, History
No, but they would have needed to be rigged for it already or be capable of getting rigged at a moment’s notice.
I tend to think that if they could have put it out, they would have put it out.
How beautiful the prayer is in French. :-)
EDs & All,
A symbol of freedom & joy.
Regards,
Jim
You won’t need to worry about water damage, anyway — the UKers definitely consider sprinklers “UnBritish.”
I see what you did there.
I found that to be the case too. However, while I was there, they held a mass. It was a low key affair, presumably since it was a weekday. The worshippers looked to be locals.
My heart has been in my throat. I was last there back in 2002 and she was a somber old dame then. It is a piteous sight but made moreso by the reality that the care of it had fallen by the wayside.
The world is not the same as it was yesterday.
My heart is full of sadness.
There will be an investigation, no doubt. However, fire tactics are such that you don’t start doing a “surround and drown” until the roof collapses and you can actually get water to the seat of the fire. Before then, you set up a perimeter to ensure the fire doesn’t spread to the other buildings in the area.
It also may have been too risky to make entry (i.e send firefighters into the building) before that happened.
Neither fixed-wing nor helicopters would have been effective on this fire, even if they were rigged and instantly available – and I would be shocked if they were. It’s Northern Hemisphere, and people are just now starting to gear up for the coming fire season. They may not even have pilots available with the necessary training and certificates for this very dangerous work.
Fixed wing aircraft are usually used to “paint” a sort of fire line ahead of the head of a wildfire. There is no head in a structure fire, and the retardant, which falls as a sort of mist, would have evaporated before reaching any burning or burnable surface. It would have absorbed a little heat of course, but not enough to make any difference.
Helicopters can dump water on a particular spot, but I don’t know how effective that would be on such a large structure fire. To be sure, operating a helicopter directly over such an intense heat source would be… interesting. I’ve experienced retardant drops on the ground, but never at the other end. Any pilots want to comment?
BTW when it comes to fire fighting, the French have been pretty darn good in the past.
To all,
From Claire’s twitter feed.
This isn’t over yet.
Regards,
Jim
My heart is mourning with you, my friends.
They may try to rebuild but it will never be the same. I doubt they could find enough skilled artisans around the world to truly restore her.
BTW @she, the last I knew, fixed-wing air tankers that can re-fill themselves have fallen out of favor. The operation itself is crazy dangerous, has big limitations (you have to have miles of straight, clear water, etc.) and plain water isn’t nearly as good as the retardant mixes they can load at an airport. And of course that requires infrastructure, stocks and highly trained ground crews standing around, to make that practical.
You’d be surprised, actually. The Frauenkirche in Dresden sat a bombed out ruin for 40 years, as the communists wanted her left as war rubble. So reconstruction didn’t start until after reunification. She’s back in use today, and when I saw her in ’93 there was nothing there but charred stone and 4 broken support pillars. If there is enough will, and enough funding, I’m sure they will pull it off.
Where I can see some delays would be in attempting to put in some modernizations to fire suppression, along with other safety measures, and to put those in without compromising the character of the place.
I offer this comment as a Catholic. I am heart broken. I have been in tears since I first heard about the fire. I had the great privilege of visiting the Cathedral 6 years ago when my son’s youth orchestra toured Paris and Normandy. The majesty, grandeur and power of the building – in spite of the din accurately noted by James above – cannot be overstated.
We are told that buildings will crumble, “mountains may fall” and “hills turn to dust” but faith stands firm. I don’t feel so secure today. The symbolism of the arguably the greatest Cathedral in flames during Holy Week in the year of such scandal is too great to dismiss casually or to not ponder more deeply. I believe, G-d is speaking to us. May we have ears to hear Him.
It’s very sad to witness this disaster.
Regarding the fighting of the fire – this guy seems to know what he’s talking about.
There is a word us Catholic liturgy geeks like to throw around: ineffable. It means, basically, something so great as to defy words. The loss to our culture, civilization and world is ineffable. Mother Mary, Notre Dame, pray for us, your poor banished children of Eve.
And would dropping large quantities of water from a significant height do more damage than good (knock out the outer walls, etc.)?
I wondered that too. They’re now talking about the bell towers, and saying that if they go, and the bells fall, that’s what will happen anyway. I don’t know the answer. Just wish there had been a better one.
Police drone photo.
Notre Dame is an icon of Christendom, now in rubble and ashes. There’s definitely a message there.
President Trump should ask the Catholic and Protestant churches in our country to take a separate collection this Easter Sunday for rebuilding the Cathedral in Paris and make a personal donation himself.
I bet our citizens would rally and donate millions.
To all,
https://twitter.com/meforum/status/1117885785594667008
Middle East Forum
@meforum
In virtually every instance of church attacks, authorities and media obfuscate the identity of the vandals. In those rare instances when the Muslim identity of the destroyers is leaked, desecraters are then presented as suffering from mental health issues
The question is can the government be trusted to honestly investigate or would they suppress if they actually find evidence of foul play?
Regards,
Jim
To all,
More from Claire’s twitter feed.
Regards,
Jim
Hopefully St. Chapel is OK.
I’m saddened. I’ve always wanted to visit Paris and see the great cathedral. Seems so many others who might share that dream have lost it, and those who have seen and loved her are in greater loss. What a terrible thing.
that looks like hell