Notre-Dame, Paris

[Dave2002]

Sad news here - the building has caught fire and the spire has collapsed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

[DracoM]

Appalling news - terrible scenes.

[french frank]

Heartbreaking.

[pastoralguy]

Absolutely terrible. Just horrific.

[Petrushka]

This is desperately sad news and so terrible to watch I've had to switch off.

[Serial_Apologist]

The beautiful stained glass is what I will miss most.

How come what looked like only two fire hoses were being trained on the building? I was watching footage of warehouses alight in WW2, surrounded by dozens of fire hoses being trained on fires by firemen on high ladders. We (or they) don't seem to have progressed much in ways of fighting fires in the meantime. And how about employing planes flying overhead directing streams of water down, as happens in heathland fires?

[Richard Tarleton]

Heartbreaking indeed....that spire falling, as Vincent Cronin said in his guide book (which I took to Paris with me in 1967), it took the Gothic and hammered it out like a sword....

Seems much of it is made of wood....

[Bryn]

The beautiful stained glass is what I will miss most.

How come what looked like only two fire hoses were being trained on the building? I was watching footage of warehouses alight in WW2, surrounded by dozens of fire hoses being trained on fires by firemen on high ladders. We (or they) don't seem to have progressed much in ways of fighting fires in the meantime. And how about employing planes flying overhead directing streams of water down, as happens in heathland fires?

If I heard correctly, much of the stained glass has been saved.

[Serial_Apologist]

If I heard correctly, much of the stained glass has been saved.

If so, that, I have to admit, would be amazing.

[doversoul1]

Reading the news on line is as much as I can do. I can’t possibly watch it. Heart breaking indeed.

[Bryn]

If so, that, I have to admit, would be amazing.

Mind you, does not the 'current' stained glass date from the 1960s, and the great organ restoration from the 1990s? There is also already some talk of possible restoration of the spire, a relatively recent construction.

The now collapsed main spire dates from after the French Revolution (the original was dismantled during that revolutionary period).

[french frank]

Mark Sealey sent this recent photo of the rose window. Enlarged, the details that can be seen are incredible. In the US they're saying that nothing will be saved:

[jayne lee wilson]

The beautiful stained glass is what I will miss most.

How come what looked like only two fire hoses were being trained on the building? I was watching footage of warehouses alight in WW2, surrounded by dozens of fire hoses being trained on fires by firemen on high ladders. We (or they) don't seem to have progressed much in ways of fighting fires in the meantime. And how about employing planes flying overhead directing streams of water down, as happens in heathland fires?

On the live Sky/BBC TV feeds (after D Trump had tweeted about such) someone commented that dropping water from above was potentially even more destructive to fragile structures, due to the sheer weight of the water...

There are still plenty of elemental forces we cannot control, or not very well.... jus think of all those recent forest fires in California, Australia etc....

[Stunsworth]

On the live Sky/BBC TV feeds (after D Trump had tweeted about such) someone commented that dropping water from above was potentially even more destructive to fragile structures, due to the sheer weight of the water...

There are still plenty of elemental forces we cannot control, or not very well.... jus think of all those recent forest fires in California, Australia etc....

Each cubic metre of water weighs a tonne. Each cubic metre of water would be travelling at around 200 mph when released from a plane. Not all of those tonnes would land on the church. The damage to the cathedral, and surrounding area, would be immense.

I used to live less than 20 minutes walk from Norte Dame and visited often. I’m heartbroken.

[MrGongGong]

Very sad news
BUT i'm sure it will rise again