“The fire is completely under control,” Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Plus, a spokesman for the Paris Fire Department, told reporters some eight hours after the first responders arrived at the blazing scene shortly before 7 pm on Monday evening. “It is partially extinguished, there are residual fires to put out.”
Glimpse inside a burning heart.
Smoke rises in front of the altar cross while the roof of Notre-Dame burns
📷 Philippe Wojazer pic.twitter.com/nFqibFVIWF
— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 16, 2019
The first photos from inside the Gothic architectural gem show the altar in front of the cross intact, with debris from the burned-out roof still smoking on the floor. Flames and smoke are clearly visible in other pictures, which show the roof and parts of the interior on fire.