For as much as firemen are struggling to put out that fire, they may want an airborne tanker about now.
Sadly it'd probably be very inefficient. A narrow and populated area with intense heat and wind. It's not like a forest fire where you have a little more ground to cover.
Actually it looks like the idea of airborne support was briefly discussed
"France's civil security agency says "all means" except for water-dropping aircraft were deployed to tackle the blaze.
The defense agency said those were unsuitable for fires like the one at Notre Dame because dumping water on the building could cause the whole structure to collapse."
Which in a way is ironic
"France's civil security agency says "all means" except for water-dropping aircraft were deployed to tackle the blaze.
The defense agency said those were unsuitable for fires like the one at Notre Dame because dumping water on the building could cause the whole structure to collapse."
Which in a way is ironic
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Your point reminds me of one of my most favorite books: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. He generally writes spy novels but this work was his finest. I highly recommend it if you are into architecture and a moving story.
News just said they are afraid that could cause more structural damage and could even cause the building to collapse.
Meanwhile they're still struggling to control the fire, risking collapse of the building.
You do know the French considered doing just that but don't let a tragedy get in the way of politics.
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True in the early stages of the fire but once the spire fell and wiped out the roof, they could have dropped water on the main fire to control it from spreading. Now one bell tower is on fire. The entire thing may be gone by tomorrow.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
They are not saying it is arson but, they are searching for a person of interest. If you see this man, please contact the French authorities.
Looks like you were at the back of line when they were handing out brains.
Those dumb ****s only have two hoses on it? The French can't even fight fires the right way.
https://apnews.com/73404d09773740f699d4b92933abec50/gallery/media:ba10d8362ac24c1c894de614e7587fe7
https://apnews.com/73404d09773740f699d4b92933abec50/gallery/media:ba10d8362ac24c1c894de614e7587fe7
I'm sure the next days will be full of talk from experts on how to stop a cathedral fire. These gothic cathedrals are just stacked masonry. They don't have structural metal or concrete, they don't even even have anything like you would consider a foundation in the modern sense. The walls only stand because buttresses (also made of stacked masonry) are preventing the walls from buckling outward. It's kind of like a house of cards made of stone. It's kind of amazing they don't all just fall down.
The problem with water is that it is very heavy. If you dump tons of water on from above you would probably overwhelm the support and just knock it down.
The bell towers are burning now but I don't know how you would get to the fire from above. And you don't have enough water pressure to really put out the fire from below.
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And very few people left that have the high skills needed to do all that amazing detailed work. That will be expensive.
I don't think they can know yet if it's truly saved or not. It might not collapse, but who knows how much it was weakened by the heat.
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Cute, take a thread about a massive tragedy that has shook people world wide and make it about yourselves. The childish impulses of this board make it barely tolerable.
Bell towers saved, south portal saved, a lot of the exterior structure is still standing. The biggest question might be the great rose window which dates from 12th century. probably gone because lead melts at such a low temp...but one can still hope
The reason I asked about it still being a church, i.e. active with regular services and an actual congregation (everyone knows it is/was a church building), is that a few years ago I attended a Gideons dinner and the speaker was a frenchman who stated that there were (if I remember correctly) only 1000 active churches in all of France. Sad.
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I’m thinking that Ira and Mr. Dambly could find a way to get the reconstruction project in under budget!
A terrible day when something this historical is compromised. Best wishes for strength to those hurting today. The world stands with you.
Well he wasn’t completely crazy given that the French interior authorities considered same
It's better than the alternative. If that giant bell in the north bell tower had fallen, it would have taken the tower with it, and if the north tower had collapsed, probably the entire western portal (the main doors) would have been lost.
But yeah we know there's fire damage in the north tower so I'm sure it's not out of danger. Now I'm sure there will be a huge international effort to assemble the best engineering expertise to figure out how to stabilize the ruins.
