After firefighters worked tirelessly to tackle the huge fire outbreak that engulfed the Notre-Dame cathedral, the main structure of the cathedral – including the two bell towers has been saved.
Now that the fire has been put off, experts have been able to share difficulties that the fire crews had to face as they fought tirelessly to save such a historic building.
A professor of fire science at Imperial College London, Guillermo Rein, told the BBC recently that “what the Paris firefighters did was close to a miracle”.
He also added that “It’s completely different to most training because all the material burning is the roof.”
“The cathedral’s roof is a complex piece of carpentry with very thin and very thick columns which are all flammable. The thin parts ignite first and then ignite thicker wood which burns for a long time.”
The former commander at St Louis Fire Department in the US, Gregg Favre, has also pointed out how flammable the cathedral is.
“Let’s pause to remember how fires actually burn. You need oxygen, fuel, heat and a chemical chain reaction. Removing the fuel is a no go. Churches have no shortage of things to burn.
“The heat that a fire this size is putting off is tremendous. Little options for interrupting that. The chemical chain is off to the races. That horse left the stable in the first five minutes.
“That leaves the oxygen. Unfortunately, even if the roof had not burnt off, churches are nearly impossible to control ventilation in. Their design is to be open and airy. Great for Sunday worship, terrible for managing fire spread.”
And a former UK firefighter that is now a safety consultant, Bob Parkin, also told the BBC that in this case, tackling the fire outbreak from inside was the only option.
“They would have to go inside the building or use aerial appliances, ladders and hydraulic platforms.”
“But you’re putting water on the outside of the building and the only way you sort it is if you attack it from the inside.”