Cause of fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris revealed

The fire that affected the spire of the famous Notre Dame cathedral in the French city of Rouen on Thursday It was most likely due to a welding spark during the restoration work that was being carried out.

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The incident occurred shortly before noon and at that time the firefighters received the first call, following an alert given by the workers themselves who were on the restoration platform, about 120 meters high.

The conflagration affected some plastic materials (such as tarps that covered the construction area) and generated thick black smoke, which brought back memories for many of the serious fire that suffered by Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in April 2019.

However, on this occasion the fire It was quickly brought under control and then extinguished, although firefighters left some equipment to monitor hot areas and prevent a possible rekindling.

Firefighters started “active surveillance of the religious building”, detailed the prefecture (delegation of the central government) in the department of Seine-Maritime (region of Normandy, in the northwest of France).

Prefect Jean Benoit Albertini told reporters that “specialised teams” had been called in to analyse the heritage and works of art to determine whether the fire or the water used to extinguish it could cause damage.

For this reason and as a preventive measure, a total of 28 works of art were removed for protection, after making a quick inventory of the most valuable treasures of the Catholic temple.

The head of the fire brigade, which consisted of about 70 specialists, explained that the fire essentially affected plastic elements of the work, with “a reduced heat potential” that was combated with water climb through dry columns.

He added that, because the structure of the needle is metallic, the only thing that could burn apart from the plastic elements were the sheets that made up the floor of the work area.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati visited the cathedral in the afternoon to study the situation together with the prefect and those responsible for emergency services.

The fire did not cause any casualties, but three of the six workers who were on the platform were treated for smoke inhalation, since they were the first to try to put out the conflagration.

Official sources cited by local media indicated that an investigation has been opened to determine the causes of the accident, although the most likely lead would be an electric spark from welding work on the iron of the structure.

Rouen Cathedral is a Gothic building that was built in successive phases between the 13th and 15th centuries and is famous in the art world for the series of thirty paintings that the impressionist painter Claude Monet made in the 1890s, at different angles and different times of day, to show the effect of different types of light.

The needle that suffered the fire has 151 meters and dates back to the 19th century, when it was rebuilt in cast iron after the original, made of wood, was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning.

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