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from the they-don't-build-them-like-they-used-to dept.
The deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, said the cathedral had suffered "colossal damages", and the emergency services were trying to salvage the art and other priceless pieces stored in the cathedral. A cathedral spokesman said the entire wooden interior was burning and likely to be destroyed.
Sounds like the whole thing may go up in flames. There's a reason for modern building codes. A structure made entirely out of wood, is a huge bonfire, waiting to happen. Thankfully, at this time, there are no reported deaths.
[Update: 2019-04-16 @ 0222: The Cathedral is not "made entirely out of wood" as was suggested above. There is a great deal of stone work in its construction which can be readily seen on its Wikipedia page. I was at work when I heard news of the fire, immediately took a break, loaded the story queue on my phone, saw a story submission on the fire, and pushed it out to the community. In my haste to get the story out, I failed to notice the erroneous claim about wood construction. I apologize for the error. --martyb]
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/notre-dame-cathedral-fire-today-2019-04-15/
(Score: 3, Informative) by kazzie on Monday April 15 2019, @10:24PM (3 children)
More recent that 1319, a sizeable portion of York Minster caught fire* and was seriously damaged [bfi.org.uk] in 1984. Reconstruction [bbc.co.uk] took four years, and some replacement roof bosses were designed by viewers of the kids TV programme Blue Peter [bbc.co.uk].
Once the fire's out, there's hope for rebuilding.
*though in York Minster's case it was probably due to a lightning strike, rather than damage during renovation
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Monday April 15 2019, @10:36PM
In York Minster's case it was after a fairly recent renovation.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 15 2019, @10:49PM
If thought monks were supposed to ring the church bells during lightning storms? I thought that was why they're called friars.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday April 16 2019, @01:05AM
Thank you for the info and links, but bfi.org.uk are not letting us watch outside of UK. Maybe I can find a UK-based proxy...