Some heroic actions by firefighters over a span of mere minutes saved Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from collapsing during a massive fire in April.
The New York Times published an in-depth look at the fire, which involved speaking with people involved in the response that night and viewing hundreds of documents related to what happened on the night of April 15.
An intricate fire detection system sounded an alarm shortly after the fire began, but a security officer went to the wrong part of the cathedral complex and said there was no fire. Once he was redirected and saw the fire a half hour after it started, the flames already were burning through the massive timbers that held up the structure's roof.
After firefighters arrived, one small group of them battling the flames was forced to retreat out of the building because they were at risk of getting trapped. Roughly two and a half hours after the fire was first detected, another group of firefighters agreed to climb into the southern tower to save the building — risking their lives because flames were already licking at the northern tower. If one went down, the other would likely follow.
By 9:45 p.m. after the firefighters climbed higher and higher up the southern tower to continue dousing the flames with water being pumped from a fire truck on the street below, the flames were put down enough that the towers would be saved.
That final assault on the flames lasted just 15 minutes.
As the cathedral burned, a hero priest raced inside and saved the crown of thorns that Jesus Christ wore the day of his crucifixion and the Blessed Sacrament. Firefighters and others on the ground were able to save several other relics as the flames burned around them.
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