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April 26, 2019

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Notre Dame: Cops get closer look

French police scientists were starting to examine Notre Dame Cathedral yesterday for the first time since last week鈥檚 devastating fire. Among their questions: Whether cigarette butts from construction workers could have played a role.

Experts from three police agencies will take samples and search for clues as to what caused the blaze, an anonymous police official said.

Police made a preliminary visit last week but weren鈥檛 able to conduct a thorough examination until the cathedral鈥檚 structure was secured.

Teams in white helmets talked with firefighters outside the monument yesterday, while workers shored up the roof and sides of the 12th-century cathedral. Multiple cranes are positioned around the site, as the French president pushes for a speedy reconstruction after the fire consumed the cathedral鈥檚 roof and knocked down its spire.

Officials believe the fire was accidental, possibly caused by a short circuit linked to renovation work underway before the fire.

Workers involved in that renovation told investigators that they had smoked on the construction site and left behind cigarette butts, according to the spokesman Marc Eskenazi of Le Bras Freres construction companies.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not good. We condemn this,鈥 Eskenazi said. But he insisted that 鈥渁 cigarette butt did not burn down Notre Dame. It鈥檚 just not possible.鈥

He cited investigators as saying the fire started inside the cathedral, while the workers were only on the roof. He said the last worker left the building at 5:50pm the night of the fire, while the first fire alarm went off half an hour later.

He claimed that the worker switched off the electricity to the elevators and the lighting used for the renovation work before they left.

The Paris prosecutor鈥檚 office wouldn鈥檛 comment on specifics of the investigation, but said all potential leads are being pursued. The prosecutor鈥檚 office and Paris police wouldn鈥檛 comment on a report in investigative weekly Le Canard Enchaine that electric cables to the cathedral鈥檚 bells had remained activated despite the renovation work.

While the cathedral will remain closed for several years, tourists massed nearby yesterday to get a closer look at the damage and the work on the building鈥檚 facade.


 

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