The fire that broke out at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, destroying its spire and severely damaging its roof, was extinguished Tuesday morning.
What we know about the fire
• Rémy Heitz, the Paris prosecutor, said that a first fire alarm was triggered at 6:20 p.m. Monday, but that no fire was found after checks were carried out.
• A second alarm was triggered at 6:43 p.m., and a fire was found under the roof in a network of wooden beams, many dating from the Middle Ages, that is nicknamed 'the forest.'
• No one was killed, officials said, but a firefighter and two police officers were injured.
• Investigators were treating the fire an accident, Mr. Heitz said. 'Nothing at this stage suggests a voluntary act.' His office said on Tuesday night that 'about 30 witnesses,' including workers from companies involved at the construction site and Notre-Dame security staff, had been questioned so far.
• The cathedral’s rector, Msgr. Patrick Chauvet, told the radio station France Inter that the cathedral had fire monitors who checked the wooden framework under the roof three times a day. Notre-Dame did not have automatic sprinklers in the framework of the roof, and its attic space was not compartmentalized with fire-breaking walls, said Frédéric Létoffé, a construction expert.
• Mr. Heitz said most people had been evacuated before the fire was found because a Mass had started in the cathedral. Not long after the doors were shut, witnesses said, smoke could be seen rising from the spire. Shortly after that, flames appeared at scaffolding around the spire’s base, part of extensive renovations that were underway.
• Around 500 firefighters were deployed to Île de la Cité, the island in the heart of the city where Notre-Dame is situated. Officials declared the fire fully extinguished over 12 hours after it began.
What we know about the damage
• By 11 p.m. Monday, the Paris fire chief, Jean-Claude Gallet said that the structure, including its two front towers, had been 'saved and preserved as a whole,' but that two-thirds of the roof had been destroyed.
• Laurent Nuñez, France’s junior interior minister, said that 'overall the structure is holding' but that 'vulnerabilities' had been identified in the cathedral’s arched vault and in a gable of the northern transept.
• Franck Riester, the culture minister, said that there were 'three important holes' in the stone vault of the cathedral, one caused by the collapse of the spire.
[As a French landmark went up in flames, the symbolism for the troubled country was hard to miss, our architecture critic writes.]
• The 295-foot spire, a wood-frame structure covered in lead that was built when the cathedral was renovated in the 19th century, was destroyed.
• Some of the cathedral’s art was saved because of recent renovations. Last week, for instance, 16 copper statues representing the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists were removed with a crane to be cleaned and restored.
• Gabriel Plus, a spokesman for the Paris firefighters, said that firefighters in nearby stations carried out two training exercises last year to practice preserving artworks in the cathedral, and that 100 of the 500 deployed firefighters had removed pieces of art.
• The saved artwork included linen fabric associated with St. Louis, the crown of thorns and the cathedral’s treasury, according to Monsignor Chauvet. Lt. Col. José Vaz de Matos, an official who inspects France’s national monuments, said that there were still several large pieces of art inside, 'some of which have been affected by the fire but that can be restored,' but that teams could not be sent in at this juncture.
• Mr. Riester said that the cathedral’s famous stained-glass 'rose' windows did not appear to have been damaged but would be examined more closely.
• President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped the cathedral could be rebuilt within five years — though at least one expert said it could take three times that long.
• At least 600 million euros, or more than $675 million, has already been promised to help rebuild Notre-Dame: The billionaire Pinault family of France, the French energy company Total, and L’Oréal and the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation, which is backed by the family that founded the cosmetics giant, each pledged €100 million; the family of Bernard Arnault, owners of the luxury goods group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, plans to contribute €200 million.
• On Tuesday evening, France’s culture ministry announced that the government had set up an online portal for all of those wishing to donate for reconstruction efforts.
What we don’t know
• The exact cause of the fire remains unknown.
• The condition of many works, inside the cathedral and part of its structure, also remains unclear. The flames could have destroyed or damaged the church’s three organs and dozens of paintings and sculptures, some dating from the 17th century.
• Notre-Dame, like many cathedrals in France, is the property of the French state. That means the government will be responsible for rebuilding it, and it’s unclear how much that would cost.