Fire breaks out in historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris- Breaking

[Gefn]

We will set up a topic sticky for the time being.

Thank you @TomSea   

[Gefn]

I came across this quote from Victor Hugo, which best encapsulated Notre Dame’s splendor

“...There are surely few wonderful pages in the book of architecture as the facades of the Cathedral”

[sneakypete]

Well, actually, according to some fire experts, Trump's proposal was not feasible.  I agree with @Weird Tolkienish Figure   Trump is once again nattering about a subject he knows nothing about.

@Applewood @Weird Tolkienish Figure

<This is not the thread for this>,but this story is about the Cathedral,and speculation about the source of the fire. Unless you think Trump started the fire,and there is a possibility you might think that,he has nothing to do with this story and his comment means no more than yours or mine.

MY speculation is it was started by a Muslim worker. France,being the PC Palace that it is might try to deny it,but if it was Muslims,you can bet they will take the credit for it as soon as they are out of France and safe back in some Islamic hellhole.

[sneakypete]

His basic idea of getting a lot of water on the fire fast isn't so bad, really.
Problem is, that the stone might not handle either the thermal shock of massive amounts of cold water dumped on it, nor the weight.
If you look at the aerial shots of the fire, it appears the wooden roof portion is burning and collapsed onto the stone interior roof/ceiling. That makes access difficult, but dumping water on it from above in mass quantities could do even more devastating damage. From the interior shots, one portion of the ceiling collapsed, the darker area in the aerial shots, but otherwise, getting water on the burning roof materials has to be done from the aerial towers and monitor nozzles that can be deployed to put water over the walls, and carefully, to keep from overloading the structure with water weight (at 8.35 pounds per gallon).

@Smokin Joe

I don't question anything you wrote about the action of the fire because I agree with it.

MY question is "Why the HELL hasn't France installed fire suppression/sprinkler systems in there to prevent what just happened?  After all,Norte Dame WAS a historic worldwide landmark/heritage building that literally can't be replaced. Yeah,a replica can be constructed,but it will just be a replica,not the real thing.

Leaving Notre Dame exposed to fire like that in this day and time borders on being a criminal act.

[sneakypete]

@DCPatriot

If this doesn't wake up the French people to the danger of Muslim immigrants/Islam,go ahead and shovel dirt in their faces because there just isn't any hope for them.

[Gefn]

And like I said before, it was a miracle it survived The Blitz.

And the Eiffel Tower and the other churches. Sacre coeur, in Paris is beautiful.

[sneakypete]

Thank you for that explanation.  I had watched and read some of the input from experts, but my muddled brain couldn't quite absorb it.  Your explanation reduces all the jargon to an explanation even I can understand.  LOL

Just too bad Trump didn't talk to someone  who knows this stuff before he said anything.  Or maybe he should have kept his opinion to himself and just offered condolences.

@Applewood

WHY does it matter what he said? He is a President,not a fire marshal or fire fighter. Now,if he,like me and many others,just came out and said as a sitting President of the US that the fire was the work of Muslim extremists,THAT would be VERY wrong unless he has indisputable proof. Even then it would be a little questionable unless he had provided that evidence to the French authorities before he spoke.

[sneakypete]

I just read this from 17 hours ago:

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/notre-dame-cathedral-fire-paris-collapse-live-updates-today-2019-04-15/

Parisian authorities said they were ruling out arson and possible terror-related motives as possible causes -- at least at the moment -- and treating the blaze as an accident, according to The Associated Press.

@Applewood

Of course they did. They are French authorities,and are still looking around for someone to accept their surrender.

[mountaineer]

Notre Dame’s burning spires force us all to face the truth about the West
By Jonathon Van Maren

With millions of others, I watched the sickening livestream yesterday of Notre Dame Cathedral ablaze in the centre of Paris.  ...

It was inevitable that the searing images of the cathedral wreathed in flames, resembling a red-hot burning cross from the sky above, would incur end-of-civilization metaphors. They began before the fire was out. ...

“If someone was writing a novel about the collapse of Western civilisation, Notre Dame would burn at this stage,” wrote Nick O’Malley of the Sydney Morning Herald. And it is true. In the despairing faces of those who watched the spire crack and fall seemed to be a recognition that the modern European lacks the beliefs and the values that sent such towers soaring skyward centuries ago. Indeed, only 18% of Europeans who identify as Christian still even bother to attend church services. The great cathedrals are now only tourist attractions, museums of a bygone era.

In perhaps the most ironic of responses to the tragedy of 800 years of history going up in smoke, progressive commentator Ian Millhiser tweeted that, “The fact that a human achievement that took a century to build can be burnt away in a few hours is such a horrible metaphor for democracy in 2019.”

And it takes a rootless progressive to look at a burning church and conclude that the politics of the current year are being symbolized there rather than the relentless smashing of our collective Judeo-Christian heritage by progressives like himself over the past century. It is the progressives that have played the role of iconoclast and demanded that we do away with the beliefs that gave rise to the awesome spires of Europe’s cathedrals, and it is they that have cheered the destruction and warmed themselves by the flames. What they have not realized is that once you start a fire, you cannot always control where it spreads and you may not have the power to put it out once it begins to consume things that you wanted to keep.  ...

The Bridgehead

[mountaineer]

The investigation begins.

Investigators face ‘long and complex’ quest for cause of Notre-Dame blaze
Date created : 16/04/2019 - 12:48Latest update : 16/04/2019 - 14:29
FRANCE 24


... Hundreds of firemen battled the blaze which consumed the roof and collapsed the eight-centuries-old cathedral's spire for more than twelve hours before bringing it under control, saving its bell towers and outer walls.

"Now we're in the phase of investigating," fire service spokesman Gabriel Plus told reporters, declaring only at around 10am on Tuesday that the fire had finally been extinguished.

The Paris prosecutor's office said it had launched an inquiry into the devastating blaze, with investigators working on the assumption for now that the fire was accidental.

"We are favouring the theory of an accident," prosecutor Remy Heitz told reporters, adding that fifty people were working on a "long" and "complex" investigation. ...

Investigators are focusing on whether the fire spread from the site of ongoing reconstruction work on the roof of the cathedral, which was covered in scaffolding, a source close to the investigation said.

Construction workers were questioned on Monday night, even as firefighters battled to contain the fire that was threatening the entire structure, some perched on cranes tens of metres off the ground.  ...

More at France24

[musiclady]

Hope.



Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. The golden altar cross could be seen glowing as firefighters made their way in. (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP)

[Polly Ticks]

Good news:

Images appear to show that Notre Dame’s prized rose windows survived the mammoth blaze that engulfed the cathedral on Monday.

The archbishop of Paris confirmed the fire had spared the three 13th-century stained glass masterpieces, French CNN affiliate BFM TV reported.


NOTRE DAME MIRACLE? ROSE WINDOWS' STAINED GLASS APPEARS TO HAVE SURVIVED SAVAGE BLAZE

[Lando Lincoln]

Hope.



Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. The golden altar cross could be seen glowing as firefighters made their way in. (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP)

Fall-to-my-knees Awesome.

[thackney]

French billionaires donate hundreds of millions to rebuild Notre-Dame
https://news.sky.com/story/french-billionaire-gives-100-million-euros-to-rebuild-notre-dame-11695116

...Also, Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive of energy company Total, said his company would give €100m towards the cathedral's reconstruction....

[musiclady]

Fall-to-my-knees Awesome.

Amen!

[musiclady]

Good news:

Wow.

[austingirl]

The image of the golden cross and intact Rose window are heartening.

[QueenCatofAragon]

Fall-to-my-knees Awesome.

Yes.  Reminds me of the cross that survived the WTC collapse.  I’m seeing a theme...

[MajorClay]

That's kind of cool.

[musiclady]

Yes.  Reminds me of the cross that survived the WTC collapse.  I’m seeing a theme...

I thought the same thing.



I have this framed and hanging on a wall.  I bought a copy when we visited the gaping hole where the WTC stood on 3/11/02.

[rangerrebew]

Islamic State jihadis cheer destruction of Notre Dame cathedral as “retribution and punishment”

Apr 16, 2019 9:00 am By Robert Spencer

Notably, they didn’t claim responsibility. Contrary to media myth, the Islamic State does not have a record of claiming responsibility for jihad attacks in which it was not involved. But they’re cheering nonetheless: “It’s time to say goodbye to your oratory polytheism.”

The bemused pursuers of “Muslim-Christian dialogue” may find this puzzling, thinking that Muslims recognize Christians as fellow monotheists, and will dismiss it as “extremism.” However, the Qur’an itself, which any Christian involved in “interfaith dialogue” should read and study, but which none will, is quite clear that Christians are polytheists:

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/04/islamic-state-jihadis-cheer-destruction-of-notre-dame-cathedral-as-retribution-and-punishment

[rangerrebew]

European Churches: Vandalized, Defecated On, and Torched "Every Day"

by Raymond Ibrahim
April 14, 2019 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14044/europe-churches-vandalized
 

    In Germany, four separate churches were vandalized and/or torched in March alone. "In this country," PI-News, a German news site, explained, "there is a creeping war against everything that symbolizes Christianity: attacks on mountain-summit crosses, on sacred statues by the wayside, on churches... and recently also on cemeteries."

    In virtually every instance of church attacks, authorities and media obfuscate the identity of the vandals. In those rare instances when the Muslim (or "migrant") identity of the destroyers is leaked, the desecraters are then presented as suffering from mental health issues.

    "Hardly anyone writes and speaks about the increasing attacks on Christian symbols. There is an eloquent silence in both France and Germany about the scandal of the desecrations and the origin of the perpetrators.... Not a word, not even the slightest hint that could in anyway lead to the suspicion of migrants... It is not the perpetrators who are in danger of being ostracized, but those who dare to associate the desecration of Christian symbols with immigrant imports. They are accused of hatred, hate speech and racism." -- PI News, March 24, 2019

 

[rangerrebew]

 
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Fire, Worker Claims it Was “Deliberately” Started

Media reports claimed fire linked to “renovation” work.

 

on 15 April, 2019

Paul Joseph Watson

The famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is on fire, with one worker claiming that the blaze was deliberately set.

The roof of the historic building has completely collapsed.

“The cause is not yet clear, but officials say it could be linked to renovation work,” reports the BBC.

However, TIME columnist Christopher J. Hale tweeted, “A Jesuit friend in Paris who works in #NotreDame told me cathedral staff said the fire was intentionally set.”

https://summit.news/2019/04/15/notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris-on-fire-worker-claims-it-was-deliberately-started/

[Sanguine]

Totally to be expected from the religion of peace.

[Sanguine]

It matters because as President of the United States, he represents this country and when he makes comments like that without thinking, he puts all of us in a very bad light.  He reinforces the "ugly American" moniker.  Now you may not care what the French think of us, but they are our allies, and it seems Trump is hell bent on ticking off all of our friends.  Not very good foreign policy because someday we may need their support -- in war or whatever -- and alienating them now will come back to bite us in the posterior.

Can we maybe stick to the topic at hand and not turn this into yet another "slam Trump" thread?