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FIRE

Paris’ fire-damaged Notre-Dame cathedral ‘on course to reopen in 2024’

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday praised efforts made to rebuild the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, saying continued mobilisation was needed to meet the government's target of restoring the landmark within three years.

Paris' fire-damaged Notre-Dame cathedral 'on course to reopen in 2024'
Emmanuel Macron visiting Notre-Dame cathedral on their second anniversary of the fire. Photo: Benoit Tessier/AFP

Visiting Notre-Dame two years to the day after the world watched transfixed in horror as flames ravaged the cathedral, Macron said “immense” restoration work had already been accomplished since the blaze.

“We are also looking to the three coming years because we will have to meet our targets, and therefore there is a great mobilisation of planning that is very demanding and rigorous,” he said.

While the spire collapsed and much of the roof was destroyed on the evening of April 15th 2019, the efforts of firefighters ensured the great medieval edifice survived the night.

Macron set a five-year restoration target in the immediate aftermath of the fire, which would mean the cathedral could be visited again when Paris hosts the 2024 summer Olympics.

He reiterated the objective a year later, despite delays brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While Notre-Dame will be reopened for worship in April 2024, restoration work will actually have to continue beyond that date, according to Jean-Louis Georgelin, a former general handpicked by Macron to lead the effort.

The rebuild is helped by some €833 million collected in a national and international donation campaign launched immediately after the fire, although this may not be enough to push the restoration over the finishing line.

The interior of the cathedral is today marked by a web of scaffolding, surrounded by nets and tarpaulins, where carpenters, rope workers, scaffolders and crane operators hurry around.

Meanwhile, investigators are trying to shed more light on the causes of the fire.

Several shortcomings in the security of the cathedral were identified – in particular in the alarm system which meant that the alert to firefighters was late – and in the electrical system of one of the elevators.

An accident, possibly caused by a short circuit or discarded cigarette butt, remains a likely explanation, but the extent of the damage has made drawing any final conclusions impossible.

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FIRE

Barcelona fire kills four, including two children

A fire ripped through an abandoned bank occupied by squatters in central Barcelona on Tuesday, killing four people, including a baby and a three year-old boy, Spanish firefighters said.

Police and firefighters gather outside an abandoned building where a blaze broke out early on November 30, 2021 in Barcelona, killing four people.
Police and firefighters gather outside an abandoned building where a blaze broke out early on November 30, 2021 in Barcelona, killing four people. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)

“While we were battling the fire, we found four people. Emergency services tried to revive them but unfortunately they failed, they could not do anything to save them,” the head of the firefighting operation, Ángel López, told reporters.

Firefighters rescued four other people who were inside the building while putting out the blaze, he added.

Those four were treated for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters rushed to the scene at around 6 am after being warned that a blaze had broken out in the building, Mr Lopez said.

While Mr López said it was not clear how the four dead people were related, Barcelona-based daily newspaper La Vanguardia said they were all members of a Romanian family.

A spokesman for Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, said an investigation had been opened into the causes of the fire.

In December 2020, four people were killed after a blaze ripped through an industrial complex occupied by squatters, many of them African migrants, near Barcelona.

Over 100 squatters were believed to be living in precarious conditions at the abandoned complex in Badalona, a suburban town north of the city.

In addition to the four deaths, more than 20 people were injured in the blaze.

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