The great spire of Rouen Cathedral in northern France caught fire during construction work on Thursday, but firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze at the famous monument.
The fire broke out in the spire of the monumental cathedral in the capital of the northern French region of Normandy.
According to the local fire department, workers discovered the fire around noon at a height of about 120 meters and raised the alarm.
The fire brigade arrived with numerous fire engines and about 100 firefighters, who reached the tower with the help of a gigantic ladder. A black cloud of smoke from the spire was visible from far and wide.
The cathedral was evacuated and the surrounding area was cordoned off.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the fire and prevent the flames from flaring up again. The shock was followed by the ‘all clear’ signal an hour and a half after the first alarm.
Workers said plastic caught fire on a work platform on the tower while they were working, fire officials said. Because the tower is made of metal in structurally important areas, the biggest concern was that the flames could spread to the wooden planks of the work scaffolding.
Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen told broadcaster BFMTV that welding work may have been the cause of the fire.
“We have narrowly avoided a new catastrophe,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said after visiting the cathedral. “At the moment, and I am speaking on behalf of the prosecutor, it is an accidental fire.”
The church of Rouen is one of the most famous Gothic cathedrals in the world.
The Impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926) immortalized the cathedral in 30 paintings, depicting it at different times of the day and year.
The cathedral’s lantern tower is topped by a cast iron spire, which at 151 metres is the highest in France. It was in this area that the fire broke out.
The fire in Rouen immediately brought to mind the fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
On April 15, 2019, the world-famous monument on the Île de la Cité in the heart of the French capital went up in flames.
The fire spread through the roof trusses and subsequently destroyed large parts of the medieval building. The small spire in the middle of the roof also collapsed.
The rebuilt Notre-Dame will open this year, after a massive and costly restoration that took years.