After roughly nine hours, French firefighters managed to bring the blaze at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris under control. Two police officers and one firefighter were injured during the operation.
Around 400 firefighters were deployed to fight the fire, which began at approximately 6:50pm local time (16:50 GMT) Monday. Rescue workers stopped short of waterbombing the structure in order to bring the blaze under control, but still managing to avoid the worst-case scenario of total collapse of the historic and iconic 35-meter tall building.
“Two policemen and one fireman were slightly injured,” France’s national fire service said in a tweet Tuesday morning.
The emergency services shared a plethora of photos and video of the unprecedented firefighting operation.
Notre Dame Cathedral has survived the French Revolution and two World Wars, among other threats over the centuries since it was begun in 1160. French President Emmanuel Macron has already vowed to rebuild the cathedral, alluding to an international fundraising campaign to restore the structure to its former glory.
Also on rt.com ‘French history on fire’: Macron vows to rebuild Notre Dame with help of greatest talents worldwideThink your friends would be interested? Share this story!