Notre Dame fire: Cathedral blaze 'being treated as an accident' as firefighters continue to fight flames – as it happened
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Your support makes all the difference.The Notre-Dame in Paris has been devastated after a fire ripped through its roof and burnt large parts of the cathedral.
The medieval roof of the cathedral was almost entirely destroyed but photographs from inside show that much of the structure remained intact, after an hours-long firefighting mission.
One firefighter was reported to have been seriously injured in the blaze. The sacred objects and artwork stored in the cathedral were secured.
Emmanuel Macron has committed to rebuild the cathedral, and has promised an international fundraising effort to restore it to its previous state.
While the cause of the fire is still unclear, authorities said they were believed it to have been started by accident.
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Those living close to Notre Dame have been evacuated in case of a possible collapse of the cathedral, the Paris mayor says.
Confirmation from AP:
Paris mayor: Firefighters optimistic they can salvage Notre Dame's main towers from flames.
In the last few moments, it does feel as if something has changed. Various officials suggest the towers have been saved and that the cathedral has not been completely destroyed, and that they are more optimistic now than they were.
There's still lots of work to do: firefighters say there's another three to four hours of work before they'll know the true extent of the damage.
But the tone has certainly changed.
Here's the commander of firefighters saying that we can consider the two towers saved.
The structure of Notre Dame cathedral has been saved and the fire has been stopped from spreading to northern belfry, the AP reports.
More from the chief of Paris firefighters here, on the work they're now doing:
"The main goal now is to cool down the structures.
"One sensitive point is the central scaffolding, which is going to require several hours before it can cooled down completely.
"There is still a risk that this scaffolding could partially collapse but we can consider that the structure of Notre-Dame is saved and preserved in its entirety."
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