Posted on 04/15/2019 10:33:16 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder
Notre Dame cathedral has caught fire, according to the Parisian fire service and eyewitnesses.
Footage posted online shows a large fire engulfing the upper part of the cathedral, with the flames licking around its two bell towers.
A major operation was under way, the fire department added, while a city hall spokesman said on Twitter that the area was being cleared.
Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to renovation works being carried out at the cathedral.
It comes after France's Saint Sulpice church , used in the filming of Dan Brown’s ‘Da Vinci Code’ thriller, caught fire in March.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Yes, a rebuild will probably look very similar from the outside, but with everything new on the inside except visible stone walls.
CNN actually doing a better job than Fox on coverage.
Not sure how to post pics on here, sorry
But yes, strange two people all the way up there w/out more workers visible
Fox had Shepard Smith on this morning. It was unwatchable. CNN was much better this morning because whoever the anchor was, they were not a trying to make themselves a part of the story. It's dramatic enough, we don't need drama queen drama on top of it, Shep.
Where the hell do they get these people?
I've switched to CNN... they are doing a far superior job of reporting on the ND fire than FNC has been. They actually have reporters on scene, on at least two locations on opposite sides of Notre Dame Cathedral. The reporters are among Catholics singing hymns and praying.
How far FNC has fallen...
Yes, if stress is already evident, putting additional weight is both redundant and unwise.
That overhead shot is absolutely TRAGIC.
Thanks for those links, Torch.
The exterior stone walls may have been preserved but I also imagine some heat damage to the massive stone. Clinkered faces, mortar cracked by heat, etc. etc..
From work in all sorts of new construction and old structure renovation, I want to advise people that old structure with what is called Heavy Timber construction does normally have a certain resistance to going up suddenly like this one did.
I was thinking that the roofing was turne metal construction or similar non-flammable exterior on top of wooden deck joist on heavy timber arches.
Professional scaffold builder / journeyman carpenter / volunteer firefighter / US Army-US Air Force parachute rigger here, chiming in-
one worker can be seen with outstretched arms, likely working on the framing overhead that might support a visqueen (plastic) covering for weatherization.
That there are workers working on the scaffolding, is to be expected. I wouldn’t draw much of a conclusion from this action. There are bound to be many other workers present throughout the project, much closer to the source of the fire.
The wood framing has had centuries to cure / dry out, and the level of heat in the attic portions in the summer would be like an oven, adding to the dangerous nature of the fire.
A careless worker could have been smoking a cigarette and dropped hot ash onto some kind of material that flash ignited.
Hot work involving grinding or cutting might have taken place and precautions or prohibitions were simply not in place as required.
Some projects prohibit hot work of any kind due to the extreme dangers.
A short in existing wiring causing a spark leading to the fire may have been caused by an inadvertent disturbance during the upgrade.
Spark arresting techniques may not have been in place or even part of the protocol.
Example- when working on F-4 and F-16 fighter jets, precautions are taken to avoid sparks while working on the flight line. All metal jewelry, rings, wrist watches, etc. are prohibited from being worn when working on or near the aircraft, and the work stairs or platforms have brass handrails in order to diminish the production of sparks due to arcing.
Situational awareness:
While working on a nuclear powerplant refueling cycle, all radiation workers were required to watch a film about a small piece of wire that was dropped accidentally into the water cooling system of an operational reactor. Fretting (vibrations) of the wire against a fuel bundle caused a leak of radiation into the atmosphere, causing the plant to shut down unexpectantly, resulting in the loss of income and costing 80 million dollars to remedy.
While building an overhead scaffold, I dropped a piece of wire into the fuel transfer pool of the nuclear powerplant. I reported it as instructed, and a company out of South Carolina, was hired to retrieve the wire, charging $10,000 for a partial day’s work.
The plant management was grateful for my honesty (integrity) and wanted to make an example out of it by giving me a $25 Sears gift card, in front of my peers at a group safety meeting.
An after-action report determined that I was at fault for losing positive control of the wire.
The point I am making is that (having been educated on the big picture via the training film) it was critical in me reporting my mistake and that I could do so without fear of retribution or punishment.
Who knows how aware the cathedral workers were, on the prevention of fire and how dangerous the fuel source was, that surrounded them in the form of the superstructure?
I’m not even commenting on an intentional act, which- if it is determined to have taken place, was one- a resounding success, and two- easily accomplished in any of a number of ways, due to the powder keg (by magnitudes) that was unstoppable once lit.
Yup. CNN's coverage is MUCH better than Fox News'. Can't believe I'm saying that.
If we put a man on the moon, they can figure this out. It won’t be 100% like it was before, but a hundred years from now, will anyone care about that?
They’re literally burning a cross.
It would be hard to do a worse job
good summary
Muslim “accident” during Holy Week
hmmmm
Fox News always sucks when it comes to Breaking News, CNN has been eating Fox's lunch on that for years.
Coincidence?
If it were faulty wiring, a heat source, fumes, or something that could have happened at any time, one has to ask why it happened precisely at this time? Why the start of Holy Week? Why on the same day as the New Zealand mosque shooting one month earlier?
Can the coincidence itself be a suspicion?
-PJ
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