Notre Dame on fire

Axe_meister

Main spire has collapsed 
Such a wonderful building as well.

ICBM

Appears to be linked to renovation work... like just about every major fire in a historic building.

Tragic.

Alnico

That's heartbreaking.

DB1

Such a shame. Apart from the obvious historical and cultural loss, I remember my wife and I being there on our honeymoon, and again 25 years later. I do hope that most of it can be saved. Heartbreaking indeed. 

Emp_Fab

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1117844987293487104

darthed1981

Looks like most of it is lost.

Whether they can rebuild, who knows.

Philtre

Emp_Fab said:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1117844987293487104

Using some rebranded 737s?

jimmyguitar

Emp_Fab said:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1117844987293487104

I bet he had to google ‘Notre Dame’ first

VimFuego

Emp_Fab said:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1117844987293487104

they can be controlled using 5G I guess. 

rze99

Deeply saddened by this awful event. A thousand years of culture gutted. Vanished. I've been there only there times but I feel this loss. 

joeyowen

Emp_Fab said:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1117844987293487104

I would imagine the impact of the water hitting the building would not be good (Although I have little knowledge in the area).

Any news on casualties?  fingers are crossed that everyone is ok

Emp_Fab

I wonder what dropping 11 tons of water onto a 1,000 year old building that's already undergoing work would do ?

....is not something Donald thought to himself.

SidNewton

The boys from Trumpton would've had it under control ages ago and still made it home in time for tea.

DB1

From The Guardian: 

The French civil defence and crisis management agency have dismissed President Trump’s earlier suggestion that flying water tankers could put the fire out.

“The drop of water by air on this type of building could result in the collapse of the entire structure along with the fire fighers who are currently doing their best to save Notre Dame,” it tweeted.

Heartfeltdawn

Emp_Fab said:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1117844987293487104

Had it been a false alarm, he'd have been tweeting for hours about the fake pews media. 

Heartfeltdawn

Two Trump posts for the price of one #poundland

terada

I had a hunch the fire might get this bad




(seriously though, absolutely gutted. Such an awful thing to see such a beautiful building in such peril. Hopefully they'll be able to rebuild it as was)

Blueingreen

Incredibly saddened by this.  We go to Paris a lot and Notre Dame feels like the focal point of the city.  I haven't been inside it in a long time but will have walked past it dozens of time crossing the Seine.

One of my abiding memories: it was Christmas Eve and we went to see an old movie (Heaven Can Wait, 1943, Lubitsch) in one of the fleapit cinemas in the Latin Quarter, then we went for a meal nearby.  The restaurants were all pretty quiet, many were shut - Parisians have their Christmas meal on Christmas Eve, so most people were at home.  Then (glowing a bit from the bottle of wine we'd shared) we walked across the river to get to our Metro, which took us past Notre Dame.  It had started to snow, there was just a thin sprinkling on the ground, and the cathedral was all lit up; we could see there was some kind of event so we stopped to have a look.  It was surrounded by TV people and cameras, presumably recording the service, and the most beautiful, ethereal music was emanating from the cathedral, obviously sung by a large first-class choir.  It was like a Hollywood movie version of Christmas in Paris, the beauty of of the lit-up cathedral, the setting, the river, the sacred music, the TV lighting and the gently falling snow, and there were maybe about a hundred or so other people there just soaking it in.  We really felt like we'd lucked into something a bit special.

I only hope it can be properly restored.

DB1

Blueingreen said:

Incredibly saddened by this.  We go to Paris a lot and Notre Dame feels like the focal point of the city.  I haven't been inside it in a long time but will have walked past it dozens of time crossing the Seine.

One of my abiding memories: it was Christmas Eve and we went to see an old movie (Heaven Can Wait, 1943, Lubitsch) in one of the fleapit cinemas in the Latin Quarter, then we went for a meal nearby.  The restaurants were all pretty quiet, many were shut - Parisians have their Christmas meal on Christmas Eve, so most people were at home.  Then (glowing a bit from the bottle of wine we'd shared) we walked across the river to get to our Metro, which took us past Notre Dame.  It had started to snow, there was just a thin sprinkling on the ground, and the cathedral was all lit up; we could see there was some kind of event so we stopped to have a look.  It was surrounded by TV people and cameras, presumably recording the service, and the most beautiful, ethereal music was emanating from the cathedral, obviously sung by a large first-class choir.  It was like a Hollywood movie version of Christmas in Paris, the beauty of of the lit-up cathedral, the setting, the river, the sacred music, the TV lighting and the gently falling snow, and there were maybe about a hundred or so other people there just soaking it in.  We really felt like we'd lucked into something a bit special.

That sounds wonderful.

DB1

Just heard that a Paris fire official has said that the main structure has been saved and preserved. That's fantastic (in the context of the circumstances) news. 

tony99

DB1 said:

Just heard that a Paris fire official has said that the main structure has been saved and preserved. That's fantastic (in the context of the circumstances) news. 

I think they're putting a bit of a brave spin on it there, the main structure was always probably gonna be ok as it's mostly stone. It's all the other stuff inside, centuries old wooden components and priceless artwork that's now ashes, very sad.