Size, type of fire limited options
NEW YORK: Is there anything firefighters could have done to control the blaze that tore through Paris’ historic Notre Dame Cathedral sooner?
Experts say the combination of a structure that’s more than 850 years old, built with heavy timber construction and soaring open spaces, and lacking sophisticated fireprotection systems, led to the quick rise of flames which jeopardised the entire cathedral before firefighters brought the blaze under control.
‘‘Very often when you’re confronted with something like this, there’s not much you can do,’’ said Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire science at John Jay College.
Firehoses looked overmatched as flames raged across the cathedral’s wooden roof and burned bright orange for hours.
While the cause remained under investigation, authorities said that the cathedral’s structure including its landmark rectangular towers had been saved.
Some of the factors that made Notre Dame a mustsee for visitors to Paris — its age, sweeping size and French Gothic design featuring masonry walls and tree trunksized wooden beams — also made it a tinderbox and a difficult place to fight a fire, said US Fire Administrator G. Keith Bryant.
With a building like that, it’s nearly impossible for firefighters to attack a fire from within.
Instead, they have to be more defensive ‘‘and try to control the fire from the exterior,’’ said Bryant, a former fire chief in Oklahoma and past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
‘‘When a fire gets that wellinvolved it’s very difficult to put enough water on it to cool it to bring it under control,’’ Bryant said.
And while there’s a lot of water right next door at the Seine River, getting it to the right place is the problem, Bryant said.
‘‘There are just not enough resources in terms of fire apparatus, hoses to get that much water on a fire that’s that large.’’
And what about President Donald Trump’s armchairfirefighter suggestion that tanker jets be used to dump water from above on Notre Dame?
French authorities tweeted that doing so would’ve done more harm than good. The crush of water on the fireravaged landmark could’ve caused the entire structure to collapse, they tweeted. — AP