Notre-Dame fire

Notre-Dame fire

View from Square René-Viviani at 19:51 CEST
Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame Cathedral (Paris) Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame Cathedral (France)
Date	15 April 2019 (2019-04-15)
Time	18:50 CEST (16:50 UTC)
Duration	15 hours
Venue	Notre-Dame Cathedral
Location	Paris, France
Coordinates	48.8530°N 2.3498°E / 48.8530; 2.3498
Deaths	0
Non-fatal injuries	3
Property damage	Roof and spire destroyed; windows and vaulted ceilings damaged

On 15 April 2019, just before 18:50 CEST, a fire broke out beneath the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. By the time it was extinguished 15 hours later, the building's spire and most of its roof had been destroyed and its upper walls had been severely damaged; extensive damage to the interior was prevented by its stone vaulted ceiling, which largely contained the burning roof as it collapsed. Many works of art and other treasures were evacuated early in the emergency, but many others were damaged or destroyed. The cathedral's two pipe organs, and its three 13th-century rose windows, suffered little or no damage. Three people were injured.

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, vowed that the cathedral would be restored, and launched a fundraising campaign which brought in pledges of €800 million within 24 hours. It has been estimated that restoration could require twenty years or more.

Background

The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris ("Our Lady of Paris"), part of the "Paris, Banks of the Seine" UNESCO World Heritage Site, was begun in the 12th century. Its walls and interior vaulted ceiling are of stone; its roof and flèche (spire) were of wood (much of it 13th-century oak) sheathed in some 200 tonnes (220 short tons) of lead to exclude water. The spire was rebuilt several times, most recently in the 19th century.

In recent decades the cathedral's stonework has decayed alarmingly, primarily because of environmental pollution, and the spire had extensively rotted because fissures in its lead sheathing were admitting water. In 2014, the Ministry of Culture estimated needed renovations at €150 million, and in 2016 the Archdiocese of Paris launched an appeal to raise €100 million over the following five to ten years. At the time of the fire, the spire was undergoing renovations and scaffolding had been erected around much of the exterior.

• Structural elements relevant to the fire
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  Left: timber-and-lead roof above stone ceiling; center: stone exterior walls; right: stone flying buttresses
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  Stone rib-vaulted ceiling
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  Timber roof framing; vaulted ceiling lies below walkways
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  Lead roof sheathing
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  Roof and spire

Fire

View from Quai de Montebello around 25 minutes into the fire; the spire is engulfed in flames

At about 18:20, guards first heard the fire alarm and began evacuating the cathedral, but no fire was seen until 18:43, when either the alarm sounded again or a second alarm sounded. Notre Dame's alarm system was not designed to automatically notify the fire brigade, which was summoned only at 18:51 after a guard climbed to the roof and confirmed a fire. There are reports that a technical fault in the alarm system initially directed firefighters to the wrong part of the structure. The cathedral was evacuated without incident within minutes of the first alarm.

White smoke rising from the roof turned black before flames appeared from the spire, then turned yellow. Police quickly evacuated the Île de la Cité.

Firefighting

The risk of fire was well-known. There was a firefighter on site; the cathedrals's "fire monitors" checked the attic thrice daily, and the Paris Fire Brigade drilled regularly to prepare for fire at Notre Dame, including two on-site training exercises in 2018.

Per common French fire-fighting practice, the fire was primarily fought from inside the structure, which is more effective in preserving cultural heritage. Attacking from the outside risked damaging the interior by deflecting flames and hot gases (at temperatures up to 800 °C or 1,500 °F) inwards. Twenty firefighters climbed the two towers' narrow spiral stairs but were eventually driven back by the heat.

Firefighters using a deluge gun

Following emergency plans, water was supplied by boats pumping from the Seine. Deluge guns were used at lower-than-usual pressures to minimise damage to the cathedral and its contents. Water dropped from the air was not used, as its impact could have contributed to structural damage and heated stone can crack if suddenly cooled. Helicopters were not used because of dangerous updrafts but drones were used for visual and thermal imaging, and robots were used for visual imaging and directing water streams.

Firefighters focused on saving the cathedral's towers. More than 400 firefighters were engaged; another hundred worked to evacuate artefacts. Along with the high temperatures, molten lead falling from the roof also posed a hazard. While the lead cladding would initially have slowed the fire by excluding air, once it started melting, the wind would help spread the fire. A large oak beam is not normally very flammable, but once smaller timbers are burning nearby, it can catch fire. One firefighter and two police officers were injured.

Most of the fire was extinguished by 23:30 CEST, and was considered completely extinguished after about twelve hours. The Paris fire chief said the bell towers and other structural elements would have likely been destroyed had the fire burned for another 30 minutes.

Damage

Views of south facade before and after the fire, showing scaffolding installed preparatory to renovations and destruction of roof and spire

Within an hour of flames being seen, the roof and spire were fully involved and collapsed onto the stone vaulting that formed the ceiling of the cathedral's interior. A few sections of this vaulting collapsed in turn, allowing the burning roof to fall to the marble floor below; but most remained intact, greatly reducing damage to the cathedral's interior.

Around 23:15 CEST, officials reported that the fire had weakened and that both towers were safe. The primary structure, including both of the towers and one-third of the roof, remained standing. An adjacent row of apartment houses was evacuated because of concerns about structural weakness, but on 19 April the fire brigade ruled out further risk of collapse.

The cathedral contained a large number of artworks, religious artefacts, and other irreplaceable treasures. These included a crown of thorns said to be the one Jesus wore prior to his crucifixion, a purported piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the Tunic of St. Louis, a much-rebuilt pipe organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, the Virgin of Paris statue of Mary and the baby Jesus, and bronze statues of the twelve Apostles.

Some artwork had been removed prior to the renovations, and most of the cathedral's sacred relics were held in the stone sacristy adjoining North Dame's south end. The items held in the sacristy are thought to be safe. Some contents were evacuated by a human chain of emergency workers and civil servants. Many valuables that were not removed also survived, but the state of many others remains unknown. It was reported on 19 April that all of the church's relics survived the fire.

Statues of the Apostles had been removed for conservation days before the fire

Lead joints in some of the 19th-century stained-glass windows melted, but the three major rose windows, dating to the 12th and 13th centuries, were undamaged; one weakened window may need to be dismantled for safekeeping. Several pews were destroyed and the sculpted arches were blackened by smoke, though the church's main cross and altar survived, along with the statues surrounding it.

The fire seen from Pont de la Tournelle

Some paintings, apparently only smoke-damaged, are expected to be transported to the Louvre for restoration. A number of statues, including those of the twelve Apostles at the base of the spire, had been removed in preparation for renovations. The rooster reliquary atop the spire was found damaged among the debris. The two pipe organs were not significantly damaged. Some of the cathedral's bells were preserved, including the bourdon. The liturgical treasury of the cathedral and the "grands Mays" monumental tablets were evacuated.

The Agence Régionale de Santé said winds rapidly dispersed smoke aloft, and has not found elevated levels of air pollution at monitoring stations nearby.

Reactions

French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a speech planned for that evening; instead he went to Notre Dame and gave a brief address there. Numerous world religious leaders and governments extended condolences.

Through the night of the fire and into the next day, people gathered along the Seine to hold vigils, sing and pray.

Investigation

On 16 April, the Paris prosecutor said there was no evidence of a deliberate act.

The fire has been compared to the similar 1992 Windsor Castle fire and the Uppark fire, among others, and has raised old questions about the safety of similar structures and the techniques used to restore them. Renovation works increase fire risk, and a police source reported they are looking into whether such work had caused this incident.

The renovations presented a fire risk from sparks, short circuits, and heat from welding (roof repairs involved cutting, and welding lead sheets resting on the timber frame) Normally, no electrical installations were allowed in the attics due to the extreme fire risk. The cathedral frame consisted of dry, well-seasoned timber, much of it porous or powdery with age. After the fire, the architect responsible for fire safety at the cathedral acknowledged that the rate at which fire might spread had been underestimated, and experts said it was well known that a fire in the roof's old, dry timbers would be almost impossible to control.

Of the firms working on the restoration, a Europe Echafaudage team was the only one working there on the day of the fire; the company said no soldering or welding was underway before the fire. The scaffolding was receiving electrical supply for temporary elevators and lighting. Le Bras Frères said it had followed procedure and that none of its personnel were on site when the fire broke out.

On 18 April, a judicial police official unofficially reported that investigators think a short circuit was the most likely cause, Surveillance footage showed smoke first rising from the base of the spire.

Reconstruction

Chartres Cathedral was rebuilt with wrought iron trusses and copper sheeting after the 1836 fire

On the night of the fire, Macron announced that the cathedral, which is owned by the state, would be rebuilt, and launched an international fundraiser the next day. The cathedral itself, as well as several other historical buildings in France, was not insured due to cost constraints, leaving the costs to rebuild to the state. The heritage conservation organisation Fondation du Patrimoine estimated the damage in the hundreds of millions of euros; European art insurers stated the cost would be similar to ongoing renovations of the Palace of Westminster in London, which currently is estimated around €7 billion.

This cost does not include damage to any of the artwork or artefacts within the cathedral; art insurers said any pieces on loan from other museums would have likely been insured, but the works owned by the cathedral would not have been insurable. While Macron hoped the cathedral could be restored in time for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, architects expect the work could take from twenty to forty years, as any new structure would need to balance restoring the look of the original building, using wood and stone sourced from the same regions used in the original construction, with the structural reinforcement required for preventing a similar disaster in the future.

There is discussion of whether to rebuild the cathedral in modified form. Rebuilding the roof with titanium sheets and steel trusses has been suggested; other options include rebuilding in the original lead and wood, rebuilding with modern materials not visible from the outside (like the reinforced concrete trusses at Reims Cathedral), or a melding of restored old elements and newly-designed ones.

Fundraising

Twelve hours after the fire started, nearly €900 million had been pledged for the cathedral's reconstruction by a number of people, companies and institutions. Pledges €10M and over include:

• Arnault family & LVMH (€200M)
• Bettencourt family & L'Oréal (€200M)
• Pinault family & Artémis (€100M)
• Total SA (€100M)
• Paris city government (€50M)
• BNP Paribas SA (€20M)
• Decaux family & JCDecaux (€20M)
• AXA SA (€10M)
• Lily Safra (€10M)
• Bouygues family (€10M)
• De Lacharrière family & FIMALAC (€10M)
• Île-de-France (€10M)
• Société Générale (€10M)
• BPCE (€10M)

Many smaller pledges were made by others. A proposal by former minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon that corporate donations for Notre-Dame should get a 90% tax deduction (rather than the standard 60%) was retracted in response to public outcry, and some donors have said they will not seek tax deductions.

See also

• List of building or structure fires
• List of destroyed heritage
• List of fires at major places of worship

External links

• Official website of Notre-Dame de Paris
• Fake news and the Notre Dame fire