Historic Notre Dame Cathedral in France partly burns down

The iconic spire at the top of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris collapsed after a major fire broke out Monday evening. Video showed part of the roof of the cathedral collapsing onto itself.

The flames were finally declared out on Tuesday morning, according to a spokesman for the Paris fire service. Gabriel Plus said Tuesday morning that “the entire fire is out,” and that the emergency services were “surveying the movement of the structures and extinguishing smoldering residues.”

Plus said that with the fire out, the next “phase is for the experts” to plan how to fortify what is left of the building.

Firefighters managed to save the cathedral’s landmark rectangular towers from the blaze, but a Paris deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said the cathedral had suffered “colossal damages.” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told reporters that the cathedral was “under permanent surveillance because it can still budge.”

France’s leader vowed to rebuild the landmark. In an address to the nation Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted it done within five years, but an expert told CBS News that reconstruction could take decades.

Parisian authorities said they were ruling out arson and possible terror-related motives as possible causes — at least for the moment — and treating the blaze as an accident, according to The Associated Press.

Source: cbsnews