.png)
Renovation Work Material Behind Fire At Rouen Cathedral
Emergency services responded to a fire at a historic cathedral in the French city of Rouen, Normandy, on 11 July 2024.
Around 70 firefighters and 40 fire appliances were dispatched to the scene where the spire of the Our Lady of Assumption cathedral had caught fire.
Footage taken by locals and media shows black smoke billowing from the spire, which had been under renovation and was covered in scaffolding. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Préfet de Normandie et de la Seine-Maritime confirmed that the fire was at the top of the spire and that the cathedral had been evacuated.
“Emergency services are on site, [and] a security perimeter has been established,” the prefecture added.
People were also requested to avoid the area and not congest the emergency lines. Posting on X, Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said: “Start of fire in progress on the spire of the cathedral of Rouen. Origin unknown at this stage. All public resources are mobilised. Thank you for facilitating their intervention.”
He later expressed his thanks to the fire service for quickly bringing the fire under control: “Thank you to all the public services mobilised, which made it possible to avoid a much worse disaster,” he said.
By late afternoon, it was confirmed that the fire had been contained. As reported by The Guardian, local authorities said that the site workers had initially tried to tackle the blaze with fire extinguishers before alerting the fire service. Three workers were understood to have suffered from “mild smoke inhalation”.
Fire brigade chief Stephane Gouezec later told media channels: "The elements that were combusting when we arrived were plastic elements from the work site."
According to Reuters, the Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, said of the incident: "I saw the flames, I saw the black smoke in particular, and then my fear was for the staff and for the site workers, that was my first concern, which was quickly reassured.
"I'm feeling a lot of emotions and a bit of confusion to be honest, because we carry out a lot of prevention exercises. We have many, many policies so that these accidents don't happen."
In 2019, a large blaze took hold of the wooden roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, causing considerable damage to the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Source: Fire Protection Association
The London Build Fire & Security Expo unites thousands of fire safety and security professionals across the UK, featuring 100+ industry leading speakers, CPD training workshops, Meet the Buyers, 100+ exhibitors, entertainment, celebrity guests, networking parties and much more!