Paris Cathedral Under Heavy Fire, President Macron On-Site With the Firemen

Today (April 15th) at 6:30 PM Paris’ time, a fire appeared in the more than 8 centuries old Notre Dame cathedral, Paris’ most visited monument with more than 13 million visits each year. A crowd of afflicted passerby, Paris inhabitants and tourists has been watching for several hours in the cafés and on the street, the emblematic Paris monument where Napoleon 1st was coronated in 1804 turning into ashes and the firefighters trying to limit the damages already sustained by the building.

More than 400 men and several fireboats are on site trying to control the flames that have already heavily damaged the upper part of the building: the XIXth century zinc roof has melted and collapsed under the flames of the burning wooden frame, made of beams aging from the XIIIth to XIXth centuries. The more recent ones having been added during the last cathedral refit by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

The emblematic 96 meters (~300ft) high spire made of 700 tons of oak covered in lead has also collapsed under the flames. Several statues had been removed from it a few days ago and thus have been saved, first-responders apparently also managed to save some of the artworks inside, yet the stained glass and large paintings are for sure lost. No casualties have happened as the building was quickly evacuated when the first fumes appeared. A mass originally planned inside at 6:15PM didn’t happen as the cathedral was swiftly evacuated yet prayers occured outside around 7:00PM.

Built between the XIIth and XIVth on the site of the even older 8th century Saint-Etienne cathedral in the then new french kingdom capital, Paris, it has sustained over the centuries several fires and restorations and a large one was in process these last months.

It is believed that the fire started because of this restoration and an investigation has started on that matter. Poor craftmanship and errors by the workers may be the cause of the flames.

Critics are coming on social media about the inefficiency of the firefighters, having a hard time dealing with the flames and dismissing the use of aircrafts because of health issues for the pilots (lead fumes) and potential further damage to the structure.

Also, president Emmanuel Macron’s decision to cancel the broadcast of the highly important recorded speech to the nation he had due earlier today (7:00PM) about the Gilets Jaunes crisis, to get on site and assist the teams, Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo and prime minister Edouard Philippe, thus avoiding confrontation with the nation has risen much critique online.

Is he using the catastrophe as an excuse to avoid the hook and confrontation with the nation, once again? Is it all a new planned operation conspiracy? Does he want to make people believe into a conspiracy to then dismiss their critiques easily as if they are crazy to believe such nonsense?

Only one thing is certain, he once again got off the hook for a few days using luck.

One last pic of the nave of the cathedral, before the fire.

Nazmi for Before It’s News