French officers introduced an arson inquiry Saturday after a fireplace broke out within the Gothic cathedral within the western French town of Nantes, shattering stained-glass home windows and sending black smoke spewing from between its towers.
Residents and vacationers watched aghast, and emergency employees cordoned off the realm across the St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral, within the historic centre of this town at the Loire River.
A town corridor reliable stated the fireplace broke out Saturday morning throughout the 15th-century cathedral and the reason is unclear. The reliable isn’t approved to be publicly named. No accidents had been reported.
The native firefighter provider stated the roof isn’t suffering from the fireplace and used to be “under control.”
They brushed apart comparisons with Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, whose lead roof and spire burned down in April 2019. For many, the Nantes fireplace will deliver again reminiscences of that devastating blaze that threatened to topple the medieval monument.
“After Notre-Dame, the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, in the heart of Nantes, is in flames. Support for our firefighters who take all risks to save this Gothic jewel of the city,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter.
Saturday’s fireplace broke the principle stained-glass home windows between the 2 towers of the cathedral, which additionally suffered a major fireplace in 1972.
“It is a part of our history, a part of our heritage,” Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland advised journalists. “We all have these images in mind, this story in our hearts, but at this stage the situation does not seem to be comparable to that of 1972.”
French Prime Minister Jean Castex and French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin can be amongst officers who will move to Nantes on Saturday afternoon.
