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Terrible Loss...

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 6:00 pm
by Lord Jim
The famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is on fire

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Paris (CNN)The iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire Monday, police said.

"Notre Dame Fire in progress," police said on Twitter. "Avoid the area and facilitate the passage of emergency vehicles and intervention of the @prefpolice."

mages and video showed flames and thick plumes of smoke billowing near its spire, which is surrounded by scaffolding.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo says the fire brigade is trying to control a "terrible fire" that's broken out at Notre Dame Cathedral.

On Twitter, Hidalgo said: "A terrible fire is underway at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The fire brigade are trying to control the fire. We are mobilized locally in close connection with church authorities. I ask everyone to respect the security perimeter."

The medieval cathedral was completed in the 13th century and today, with its towers, spire, flying buttresses and stained glass, is considered a feat of architecture as much as a religious symbol.

Located in Île de la Cité, a small island in the middle of the city, the cathedral is one of Paris' most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/15/world/no ... index.html

It really looks devastating...No word yet on how many people may have been inside...

A lot of questions need to be asked about how this could have gotten so out of control so quickly....

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 6:45 pm
by Big RR
Was the Hunchback smoking again?

All kidding aside it is a same; that was one of the places I wanted to go that I never had the opportunity to.

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 6:50 pm
by ex-khobar Andy
Easter week, too. No reports of casualties; but I cannot believe that there are none.

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:38 pm
by rubato
It is a huge loss of history and some art. When we were there I saw some of the "little sisters of the poor" (Mother Teresas Krewe) hustling for euros and boy they really are little! I think there is a painted plywood pope somewhere with his hand about 5ft high saying "if you can't walk under this, you are too tall for the "Little Sisters". I think they would be more successful if they hooked up with the Romanian Gypsy kids and worked up a deaf act or something. Now those kids know how to work a hustle! Every couple of blocks there would a a new pair of girls using broad pantomime and a printed flyer to stir the cockles of gentle hearts. I would say "Wow, there is an epidemic of deafness in Romany girls!" And then I would say "Je suis désolé, I just gave my last 100 euros to those two back there." Just spreading happiness wherever I go.



yrs,
rubato

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:52 am
by dales
Trump never fails to disappoint, does he.

What a maroon! :lol:




Trump suggests water tankers for Notre Dame fire but French say air drops unsuitable


Updated 3:21 pm PDT, Monday, April 15, 2019

U.S. President Donald Trump has tweeted about the fire engulfing Paris' iconic Notre Dame Cathedral.
Trump wrote on Twitter after the fire broke out Monday: "So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris" and made suggestions for how first responders should tackle it.

He said: "Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out," adding: "Must act quickly!"
Firefighters were trying to contain the fire when the cathedral's spire collapsed.


French President Emmanuel Macron is treating the fire as a national emergency.
Macron reached the landmark cathedral on Monday evening and went straight into meetings at the nearby Paris police headquarters.

France's civil security agency says "all means" except for water-dropping aircraft were deployed to tackle the blaze.


The defense agency said those were unsuitable for fires like the one at Notre Dame because dumping water on the building could cause the whole structure to collapse.


Massive fire engulfs beloved Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
An Associated Press reporter at the scene of Monday's fire in Paris watched the flames blazing behind an oblong stained-glass window in the tower.

Paris police say fighters are inside the cathedral working to put the flames out while others work from the exterior. Red smoke is pouring out of the cathedral.
A Notre Dame spokesman said earlier that the church's entire wooden interior was in flames.

Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told French media: "Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame."

The cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world's most famous tourist attractions.

The cause of the blaze isn't yet known, but scaffolding could be seen on the roof of the burning structure. The peak of the 12th century cathedral is undergoing a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project.
French media quoted the Paris fire brigade saying the fire is "potentially linked" to the renovation work.
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The French capital's police department said no deaths have been reported from Monday's fire. The police department didn't say anything about injuries.

Located on the Ile de la Cite in the center of Paris, the Gothic cathedral is among the most famous from the Middle Ages and was built on the ruins of two earlier churches.

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 1:01 am
by Lord Jim
Fire guts Paris' Notre-Dame, but structure saved from destruction

PARIS (Reuters) - A massive fire consumed Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday, gutting and destroying the roof of the Paris landmark and stunning France and the world, but firefighters said they had saved the shell of the stone structure from collapse.

Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which toppled, quickly followed by the entire roof.

As it burned into the evening, firefighters battled to prevent one of the main bell towers from collapsing. One firefighter was seriously injured - the only reported casualty. [That's pretty amazing...I guess because the fire appears to have broken out so high up in the structure, there was time to evacuate the building.]

“We now believe that the two towers of Notre-Dame have been saved,” Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet told reporters at the scene. “We now consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had launched an inquiry into the fire. Several police sources said that they were working on the assumption for now that it was accidental.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-notr ... SKCN1RR1UO

President Trump has issued a statement blaming the blaze on the Democratic Congress and its failure to provide funds to build a wall along the US southern border.











(okay, that last line may be fake news...)

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 1:51 am
by Bicycle Bill
Yeah, water tankers dropping hundreds of gallons of water with the impact of a bomb.  That would put it out, all right .... and also knock down whatever remains of the walls, along with anything else within a couple hundred meters of the blaze (and that's assuming they would be able to drop the bulk of the water on target in the first place).  Once again Trump proves that his stupidity, like a gas, will expand to fill whatever volume is available to it.

And Trump has backed off on blaming the blaze on the Democratic Congress and its failure to provide funds to build a wall along the US southern border.  He's now blaming it on the left-leaning gilets jaunes (yellow vests).
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-"BB"-
(That last sentence may also be fake news)

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:00 am
by Econoline
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Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:04 am
by Joe Guy
Trump tweeted an offer to send some water from the Rio Grande for the French to use to fight the fire. He said it might have a few "bad hombres" mixed in but it would still help to smother the fire if it's dropped from airplanes.

(that might be fake news too)

Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:23 am
by RayThom
I also read where Lord Dampnut wanted to send in a squadron of "Flying Buttress' " to dump water on the flames, but Stephen Miller told him it was better to let it burn.


But seriously, I may not do too well grasping the Roman Catholic religious significance of the Cathedral but I will mourn the loss of centuries of Gothic and Renaissance art that was destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 3:45 am
by BoSoxGal
Last I heard on TV, they saved all the relics and statues and at least one of the rose windows was also spared, as well as the fantastic organ.

I cried when I came home to the live coverage and horrific images, but I’m hopeful she will be rebuilt as closely as possible to what she was before.

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 3:49 am
by BoSoxGal
Here’s a peek inside before today:

https://www.360cities.net/image/france- ... -cathedral

Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 5:11 am
by RayThom
Notre Dante's Inferno?

Level Three: Wrath

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Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 5:52 am
by liberty
I would not rule out arson. There are people like “Shit For Brains” that go beyond just being atheists that are anti-Christian that have a hatred for Christianity. And it is a historical symbol of Christianity. I would take a very close look at all the people that worked in or on the cathedral. If it was arson and if it was organized we will know before long. An organization would take credit as soon their operatives are safely out of the country.


On the other hand it could be an accident. During the 1980s on Tinker Air Force Base the mile long building 3001 burned down because of the carelessness of one welder. But I can’t see why welding would be used in a building that old. What is eight or nine hundred years old?

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 5:57 am
by Bicycle Bill
And now for the view from the lunatic fringe.
liberty wrote:I would not rule out arson. There are people like “Shit For Brains” that go beyond just being atheists that are anti-Christian that have a hatred for Christianity. And it is a historical symbol of Christianity. I would take a very close look at all the people that worked in or on the cathedral. If it was arson and if it was organized we will know belong. An organization would take credit as soon their operatives are safely out of the country.
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-"BB"-

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:30 am
by MajGenl.Meade
liberty wrote:I would not rule out arson
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"Je suis innocent!"

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:41 am
by Lord Jim
Here's a link to a bunch of conspiracy/hoax attempts:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ja ... ame-hoaxes

And good ol' Shep pushes back:
Fox News' Shepard Smith Cuts Off Right-Wing Conspiracy Theorist Claiming Notre Dame Fire Was Deliberate

Fox News host Shepard Smith immediately shut down a controversial right-wing French caller's conspiracy theory suggesting that the Notre Dame Cathedral fire may have been intentionally set.

Smith offered a concise and immediate rebuke during live on-air coverage of the Paris cathedral's burning after Philippe Karsenty, a former right-wing political candidate, floated the idea Notre Dame was set ablaze by potential terrorists. Karsenty was previously sued for libel after he accused the France 2 network of staging the killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, in 2004.

Smith labeled conspiracy theorists and similar unfounded claims "counterproductive and injurious to society."

French and Israeli media reports have described Karsenty as a "right-wing extremist" tied to far-right Jewish groups over the Palestinian hoax controversy and the ensuing legal battle. Conspiracy theories claming the fire was "deliberate" began popping up on American right-wing media outlets, including Infowars, within minutes of reports of the Notre Dame fire.

"I was close to the scene when it happened, but I left because I wanted people to work," Karsenty began. "Everybody was in shock, even if nobody died it was like a 9/11, a French 9/11, you know? And it's a big shock. This church that was there for more than 850 years, and even the Nazis there didn't destroy it."

But then Karsenty's phone call with Smith, widely considered one of Fox News' most moderate voices, descended into uncorroborated causes of the fire that Smith promptly shut down.

"For the past year we've had churches desecrated each and every week in France, all over France," Karsenty said. "So, of course, you will hear the story, the politically correct story, political correctness, that it is probably an accident."

"Sir, sir sir, we're not going to speculate here of the cause of something we don't know," Smith shot back. "If you have observations, or you know something, we would love to hear it."

"No I'm just telling you something that we need to be ready—" Karsenty began, before Smith cut him off and ended their call.

"No sir, we're not doing that right here, not now, not on my watch,"
Smith said sternly. "Phillipe Karsenty, it's very good of you to be here."

The Fox News chyron during Smith's segment identified Karsenty as a "French elected official," although it's unclear if he holds office currently.

"We're watching at least the partial destruction of a world icon. Notre Dame Cathedral has been burning for two and a half hours. The initial reports we got were the fire started at a construction zone in the rear," Smith explained after ending the call with Karsenty. "We are thousands of miles away, and the man on the phone with us has aboslutely no information, of any kind, about the origin of this fire, and neither do I.

"The fire investigators will, at some point, come to a determination about what caused this and conspiracy theories about anything are worthless," Smith continued. "And in many cases, counterproductive and injurious to society. And those who entertain [conspiracy theories] are not acting in the best interests of the people in this planet."
https://www.newsweek.com/shepard-smith- ... ry-1397144

Maybe the church was hit by a missile...

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:29 pm
by Gob
People in the streets were praying to god that the cathedral would be spared, (according to the live BBC report.). Think about that for a moment.

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 3:03 pm
by BoSoxGal
Active construction involves lots of heat, which makes sparks, which very easily ignites seasoned hardwood rafters.

It is preposterous for anyone to speculate beyond the obvious until a complete fire investigation has occurred - which will certainly be done so that insurance can fund a large portion of the restoration.

Re: Terrible Loss...

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:38 pm
by liberty
Bicycle Bill wrote:And now for the view from the lunatic fringe.
liberty wrote:I would not rule out arson. There are people like “Shit For Brains” that go beyond just being atheists that are anti-Christian that have a hatred for Christianity. And it is a historical symbol of Christianity. I would take a very close look at all the people that worked in or on the cathedral. If it was arson and if it was organized we will know before long. An organization would take credit as soon their operatives are safely out of the country.
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-"BB"-

fixed that.