Fire most likely an accident
French detectives investigating the Notre-Dame fire on Tuesday questioned workers who had been restoring the cathedral and left the site minutes before the blaze broke out.
The inferno that consumed most of the roof was probably started accidentally, said Rémy Heitz, the Paris prosecutor, possibly as a result of restoration work on crumbling upper sections of the cathedral and the spire.
“Nothing indicates a deliberate act,” he said.
Some 50 investigators from the Paris police criminal division, half of its detectives – have been assigned to the case.
Among those they have interviewed are 12 employees of the firm which was leading the £130m (R2.3bn) four-year restoration, Le Bras Brothers, based in Jarny, north-eastern France.
The highly respected specialist company has restored cathedrals and churches in Strasbourg, Reims, Poitiers, Verdun, Amiens and other French cities. It had recently started restoring the 300ft wooden spire of Notre-Dame, which was added to the 850-year-old cathedral in the 19th century and collapsed in Monday’s fire.
“All I can tell you is that at the moment the fire began none of my employees were on the site. We respected all procedures,” said Julien Le Bras, head of the family firm.
Another firm, Europe Echafaudage, erected 250 tons of scaffolding and installed a lift.
Le Bras was full of pride when he gave an interview in 2017 about his firm being chosen to restore Notre- Dame.
“No one has touched it in 150 years, it’s really quite something to say we will be the ones getting involved. We won’t be offering a guarantee of ten years, but 150 years,” he said.
Firefighters battled the inferno for nine hours before bringing it under control in the nick of time.