Crews assess damage; donations flow in
PARIS >> With its iconic cathedral scorched but still standing, France on Tuesday launched an investigation into what triggered the Notre Dame inferno and how a fire that had probably started by accident could gut the symbol of a nation.
As the smoke cleared from the sky Tuesday, it was almost possible to look head-on at the church — to see its carved statues and two rectangular bell towers — and imagine that all was intact. Much of the valuable art and relics had been saved. Even the exquisite stained glass windows remained in place, seemingly immune to the previous day’s flames.
But that belied the somber accounting of all that had been lost, and how the religious and architectural landmark at Paris’ center had been altered. The church’s trademark spire, part of the Parisian skyline since the mid-1800s, had been swallowed in the flames. Char and smoke marks licked portions of the walls. And the roof — with its centuries-old wood — had been destroyed like tinder, leaving gaping holes that let sunlight shine into the cathedral Tuesday.
Officials warned that Notre Dame may still have gravely dangerous vulnerabilities, especially in the soaring vault. But a few government officials ventured inside, and camera footage showed charred rubble in front of the still-intact pews.
In an evening address to the nation, One of the rose windows appears intact below the damaged roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a day after a fire that devastated the building.
French President Emmanuel Macron described the firefighters as heroic and said he hoped the country would reconstruct Notre Dame within five years — a shorter timetable than that put forward by experts.
“We now have to get things done,” Macron said. “We will act, and we will succeed.”
He said the rebuilt cathedral would be “even more beautiful.”
From around the world, more than $700 million in private donations poured in for reconstruction, while Parisians and tourists lined the banks of the Seine, bearing witness from a distance after
police closed bridges that give access to the site.
France’s interior minister said more than 500 firefighters had been mobilized Monday to help extinguish flames that had filled the sky with smoke. But questions remained about whether any warning signs had been missed.
Paris Prosecutor Rémy Heitz laid out a timeline in which an alarm went off at 6:20 p.m., but no evidence of fire was found. Only when a second alarm went off — 23 minutes later — was fire detected.
“In the meantime, the church was evacuated because a Mass just started a bit earlier,” Heitz said.
A spokesman for the Paris prosecutor’s office later clarified that it was church staffers, not firefighters, who looked into the initial alarm.
Patrick Chauvet, the Notre Dame rector, told French radio that the cathedral’s “fire watchers” were on constant lookout and three times each day made “assessments” in the vulnerable area under the wooden roof.
“In terms of security, I doubt we could have done more,” Chauvet said.
Buildings such as Notre Dame — full of hidden nooks and passages, and composed of ancient timber and other old materials — are seen by fire prevention experts as particularly risky, especially when they are under renovation. Stewart Kidd, a consultant on heritage buildings in Britain, said that in old structures, by the time flames become visible, “they may have been burning for an hour” in unseen spaces.
And when there is construction, Kidd said, “The building is exposed to all sorts of dangerous activity.”
French officials said they do not suspect foul play. Heitz said there were no indications that the blaze was started deliberately. Investigators plan to interview people from the five companies that were doing renovation work at the site. Before the fire, part of the Gothic structure had been encased in scaffolding.
There were no deaths in the Paris fire, but two police officers and one firefighter were injured, officials said.