PARIS, Jul 11 Firefighters built a huge ladder to reach Before a fire broke out at the spire level in Rouen Cathedral, the flames should be extinguished soon, a fire department spokesman said on BFMTV.
«We have reached the site of the fire and are in the process of extinguishing it. There are still a few minutes, an hour at most, left to put out the fire and make sure that there are no hot spots left,» he said.
He also said that workers notified them about the start of the fire. According to them, the elements that caught fire were construction plastic on scaffolding located at an altitude of about 120 meters.
The fire on the spire of Rouen Cathedral began on Thursday morning. Visitors were evacuated. The area around the cathedral has been cordoned off. According to the prefecture, 63 firefighters and 33 pieces of fire equipment are on the scene.
The Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame of Rouen was under renovation. Its spire was surrounded by scaffolding.
In 2019, also during renovations, the largest fire in history began in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The cathedral spire collapsed and the supporting structure was engulfed in flames. The fire destroyed the roof's unique timber frame of eight-hundred-year-old oak beams, each made from a single tree trunk.
Rouen Cathedral was founded in 1030. Its height is 151 meters. The oldest part of the Gothic cathedral is the north tower, built in 1145. The cathedral was heavily damaged in 1944 during the bombing of World War II.