four hundred firefighters have been battling a massive fire that single paris is iconic. the building's massive spire has already collapsed in the flames president has declared the blaze a national tragedy. let's go live to the french capital and our correspondent charlotte dubin ski and i know that you've been speaking to people in the vicinity but also keeping an eye from your perspective you can just about see the flames any sign of them dying down at this point. it's actually quite difficult from where we are to see what's going on but i've just been looking at some of the live images that have been taken from the side of not done cathedral and it doesn't look as if that fire is under control o'toole the firefighters desperately poor ring mortar to try in dampen those flames down but it does seem like the entire center of not cathedral remains on fire at the moment not much smoke coming up but we are occasionally seeing those embers. and it looks a little bit like when you see a volcano about to erupt you see those sort of first sparks coming out and that's what we're

firefighters on the ground. they are successful in these fires we fight every day. it is how they are used that is important, we make conscious decisions every day of risk versus gain and when are they effective and when are they not? we have to go through the analysis all the time and there are people flying those aircraft and people on the ground impacted by what those aircraft do so there are opportunities and appropriate times to use them at times when they are not effective and they may stand down but the court is evaluated every day and throughout the year day. aircraft are scarce resource, there are not enough firefighting aircraft in the country to meet the needs we see every day. those researchers are coordinated with state, local and federal level throughout the day every day during fire season so we can get aircraft over the most appropriate fire firefighters on the ground, and a strategic setting where they can be effective. these fires are diverging as under 80 mile an hour winds, fuel conditions ar

one firefighter has been seriously injured.ds gathered in the streets around it, many were in tears. president macron has promised it would be rebuilt. our paris correspondent lucy williamson starts our coverage of the destruction of notre dame. it was, said the president, a part of france that burned today, a part that stood here for 800 years, through war, revolution and religious unrest. engulfed within an hour by flames. its ancient towers, beacons for both residents and tourists, crumbling into the blaze. as its current guardian watched through tears. translation: this is a national disaster, i'm very upset. this cathedral is 850 years old and to see the building fall to pieces, the spire to fall down just as we were renovating it, all i can do is pray. firefighters circled the cathedral to tackle the blaze. their cranes stretching to reach its soaring roof, a complicated and fragile operation, simply dousing the medieval structure with water was not an option, rescue experts said, because the building could collapse. to t

firefighters battled the blaze for more than eight hours. they say the situation is finally under control. the roof of the 12th-century monument caught fire shortly before 7:00 p.m. local time. it is quickly spread into a towering inferno. the smoke billowing into the sky engulfing one of thehe cathedral landmark rectangular towers. nearby buildings were evavacuatd in the entntire structure would collapse. thew minunutes later, .athedral spire e came down a momement seared into the memoy of the horrified onlookers. >> i can't even describe what is happening now. paris is collapsing. >> it is hard, especially when we saw the spire collapse. touristss sunk in, gathered around to see the site with their own eyes. some struggling to hold back tears, others singing or saying prayers. sad. is very it's one of the great monuments. away, it isar devastating to see monuments like this burn. visiting the scene after canceling a major speech on tv, the french president praised the courage of the 500 firefefightes deployed on site. one of whom was badly

firefighters struggling to contain it. is praying for the firefighters for some the archbishop of paris is called on all priests in paris to ring the bells asa priests in paris to ring the bells as a mark of gesture for notre—dame cathedral. we can see, of course, this firefighters trying to reach the flames with the water cannon. we have heard they are connected right to the seine. this iconic landmark around the world stands by the bridges overlooking the seine. its size make it stand on the paris skyline. the french president emmanuel macron has rushed to the scene, cancelling a huge speech he was due to be given, a life speech after political times in france with the yellow vest protest. he described sadness he saw after seeing "part of us burn". the first reports of the surface nearly three hours ago now. within minutes, smoke and then the blazes spreading across the roof of notre—dame. the main spire collapsed, and the cathedral spokesmen have said that the roof was on fire and of course these were the earlier pictur

one firefighter has been seriously hurt well that's the latest information from president emanuel saying the blaze was taking a part of all of france's people. with. well what an evening it has been my colleague wheel of blue cross is here with me you're following a very special what's being said. but let's talk about this report that they may be able to save the building right just i mean about an hour or two ago we have the foreign ministry in france saying they weren't sure they weren't certain there's no way to tell if they'd be able to save these towers it did appear from the images that the firefighters are trying to contain the fire away from the towers into where the roof had collapsed now they're saying they maybe have some optimism they may be able to save these towers after all in the meantime it appears that one firefighter has been seriously injured which is also a new development new development we have new details how we do know that the firefighters one of their priorities was to save the invaluable artwork and relics that are in the building so it is possible that in the

course one of the issues with such a large building of course is extremely difficult to get the firefighters up to certain parts of the blaze i'm sure is playing a part in why it's burning out of control almost it seems at this point in your matter on the french president is anticipated to make an address to the nation surely was to show she the scale of. how this will impact the nation. because tensions. been witnessed across france in recent months of demonstrations taking place in the capital this will draw people together i'm sure those in lovers of the arts of architecture and of such an iconic national monument lore be feeling the same here. and i mention there is a renovation project taking place at the moment six point eight million dollars worth it's a national treasure the world. heritage treasure because this cathedral dates back . thousands also almost a thousand years twelve sixty the year is actually completed it was a hundred years of construction work on and off. famous can thieves will consider it's an iconic symbol of architecture and religion in france and around the world

firefighters of first responders. when you go into a burning building as a structural firefighter, you're wearing -- when your wildland firefighter you don't have a mask. think about it. they are on sometimes 20 something hours come you're not going care that much oxygen. what do you wear? you were heavily exerting yourself. this is a different problem and we have to think about it. in fact, of unit is a we started collaborating with researchers at northeastern university thanks to the private actor fire prevention safety grant and looking at what happens when you have a real short-term exposure to a lot of this wildland fire? what's in it works with long-term health effects? that in something that's been missing. we've seen in structural fires and now starting to ask for wildland fires. toxic pollutants, and i'm not talking about what happen in the air but think about what's left after the fire goes. they are going to be clean at paradise california for years took everything that was in there, toxic and otherwise, it

unbelievably historic call for the parish fire department and firefighters have been quoted as sayingthat at this point they think the renovation work might have been to blame from your experience when renovations are taking place that's. the risk factor absolutely i think it ups that respect yours number one in that you have people in there working in introducing mechanical electrical equipment that are not normally found inside the occupancy and of course any time you have all a large old building like this it's going to present challenges that would normally be there so just a lot of factors a lot of variables certainly went into making this an unbelievably difficult fire to contain and to fight when you're talking about the structure that sunders of years old. did the compromises get made in order to preserve its appearance to keep it the way people expected or do you just have to be innovative and think of different ways of enforcing safety regulations. well you know in terms of the actual suppression effort and what actually went in to battle the blaze at this church it present

>>firefighter on top firefighter below spring water in there said no firefighters are in there right now. >>they call it a defensive stance because what they want to do is just try to is stop this from spreading to any other businesses and are lots of businesses in this area. >>it doesn't look like there's a lot of are there any residential things but there's plenty of you know a few blocks away, there's a school a few blocks away there's a park that kind of thing but as we were talking to john and we're monitoring the weather it happened really windy out there which is a good thing. and so john you know you said the winds are pretty light winds are really light right now in fact if we can pull up just a little bit. >>we are looking at winds right now very calm in the vicinity of the fire and we are going to be looking at them staying calm over the next few hours to primarily wind direction is from the east right now but comments not really making much of a difference as far as the smoke plume goes. >>this is also really good news when you have calm winds like this because it means t

this is your news live from berlin firefighters battle into the night to save notre dame cathedral flames devoured the gothic churches roof and spire but officials believe they have saved the main structure after a colossal rescue effort now france's president says we will rebuild it. also coming up sudan's protest movement keeps up the pressure demonstrators demand a transition to civilian government within fifteen days as they deflect efforts by troops to end their sit in. class germany's probe into the diesel gate scandal reaches the very top prosecutors inside former volkswagen c.e.o. mark has been on charges of fraud saying he and fellow executives worked to deceive the world about emissions. i've got to thank you for joining us french president is vowing to rebuild the notre dame cathedral after a blaze destroyed much of the twelfth century church late on monday firefighters say the fire is now under control and is partially extinguished now this here is what's been left standing this morning authorities say the cathedral structure was largely saved but the fire did got its roof and

flames ravage the medieval catholic church there is massive damage the spire has collapsed but firefighters say that the towers have been saved this symbol of the city of light tonight it shines no more i've forgotten berlin this is the day. it's a thousand d.s. of history it represents france. i feel like. it's just crying now it looks just to me. i feel the cathedral has been snatched away from. the. cultural heritage its front that's been hit today france is there any of us to do with. our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with what paris and the whole world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral to see the catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of the parisian soul for almost a millennia or tonight it took only an hour for the flames to turn notre dame's wooden frame and its towering spire recognized the world over into a smoldering relic. a heart rending sight as the spire found striking at a symbol of french culture in the heart of paris. the massive blaze sp

you can see more firefighters there. again, the water -- they're about as high as they can get without going onto the roof itself. just trying to get as much water as they can. it seems to be having some effect based on the smoke, but still, lots of flame there. and there's another team going up. >> obviously, any time you have a restoration of this magnitude, as we can see in some of the early pictures, how much scaffolding there is. there's concern, there's difficulty, there are very familiar challenges with this. but it will be, and we have already heard from some officials in france, this will be the first place that they are looking for how this fire started. >> we mentioned the president had tweeted and suggested a water tanker drop. my years of reporting, i don't think i've ever seen a water tanker used in an urban fire. that's something we normally see in wildfires. so i don't think that is on the option list here. but i mention it because the president mentioned it. this is going to have to be just getting as mu

not more firefighters there early on.there were not more firefighters there early onli concern that there were not more firefighters there early on. i think you will always get criticism of these kind of operations at these moments. no—one will ever feel that enough has been done stop to some extent i think that tells you how strongly attached the french are to this building. how strongly they feel that everything should have been done to save it. actual assessment of the quality of the security operations, firefighting operations, that will take some time. the immediate task here is some kind of assessment of the damage, some kind of assessment of what you do in the short term to shore up the structure and in the longer term to repair it, to bring it back to viability, to have it again asa it back to viability, to have it again as a central place in catholic worship. it was recognised all around the world, and what it would ta ke to around the world, and what it would take to restore it to its centrality at the heart of

we are exposing firefighters to months of firefighting all year. these of both psychological, fiscal impacts. it is the health impacts from smoke that not only impact the firefighters on the ground but communities hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away by these long duration events. so significant challenges that result there. and ultimately, and unfortunately, the last four or five years has been a decade of broken -- really, we have seen a decade of broken records, particularly in the last four or five years. i can tell you in 2018 just in california, 1.8 million acres burned. 22,703 structures were destroyed. most of those on the fire paradise, the camp fire. and hundreds of hotels, six firefighters, 94 civilians. and hundreds of hotels, six that was a record year for california and actually california had the record for the country in 2018, for these statistics. unfortunately, we saw the camp fire being the most destructive fire with almost 19,000 structures destroyed. the mendocino complex near clearlake was accommodation of -- a combi

rescue workers and firefighters in particular could get inside. one firefighter injured. very sad of course. but extraordinary that there weren't more injuries considering the scale of the incident. in a densely packed area. jim, obviously the history speaks for itself here. many of the art facts inside speak in many ways better than the building itself. many of them were saved extraordinarily. >> it's true. some indications the fire was going to be a serious one. and as a consequence they were able to with the help of police and firefighter to get some of the artifacts inside, out. the crown of thorns and the relic so many people come to see. supposedly the crown worn by christ before he was crucified. the tunic of lou the ninth. the famous tunic worn by one of the early kings of france. saved. but the archbishop of the paris who was on tv this morning talking about what has been saved and lost. a great deal of fear about a number of other things for example the huge works of art which were all around the cathedral. very certainly going to be damage at least if not compl

its roof and spiders emergency workers say they have saved the main structure after a colossal firefighting effort. i'm sumi so misconduct it is good to have you with us french president to manuel mccall is vowing to rebuild the notre dame cathedral after a blaze destroyed much of the twelfth century church late on monday firefighters say the blaze is now completely extinguished now this is what's been left standing this morning authorities say the cathedral structure was largely saved but the fire gutted its roof and cost the spire to collapse one firefighter was injured during the blaze many valuable artworks inside were lost or damaged and people around the world are lamenting the devastation of an architectural jewel that has survived over eight centuries and is a symbol of france's heritage. this hell were a place on earth this is what it might look like. the flames destroyed what two world wars did. not ravaging over eight hundred years of history. as the spire of not to dom fell to the inferno. people in france and around the world looked on. thousands gathered nearby in paris many i

firefighters circled the cathedral to tackle the blaze.ir cranes stretching to reach its soaring roof, a complicated and fragile operation. simply dousing the medieval structure with water was not an option, rescue experts said, because the building could collapse. to tackle the flames inside the building, firefighters had to climb up the towers. nothing else could reach. president macron arriving at the cathedral with france's prime minister, his face upturned in disbelief. translation: what has happened tonight in paris and notre dame is a terrible event. i want to first think the firefighters, 500 of whom have battled the flames for several hours and will keep doing so for several more and maybe for several days. the flames are slowly beginning to subside now, but the damage is just beginning to reveal itself. the destruction of this mediaeval symbol of paris has left the city under a pall of shock and smoke. people packed into the streets around, barely spoke, just watched. those who found the words for their impressions, one after the

watching in horror, huge crowds stood by helplessly as firefighte firefighters struggled to get to thehedral. was the construction a factor in the game that caused so much destruction? >>> game of unknowns. the justice department releases a timetable for release of a redacted version of the mueller report that's only adding to the suspense as all of the trump white house and all of washington brace for potential bombshells. >>> and twitter tiger, the president tweets praise for golfing legend tiger woods after his comeback win at the masters. mr. trump announcing he will use his power to reward his pal with a presidential medal of freedom. >>> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following breaking news on the devastating fire tearing through notre dame cathedral, one of the most iconic areas in paris and the entire world. the cathedral's spires collapsed in flames. tonight hundreds of firefighters are battling to save a building that stood for more than eig

to be firefighter?> we wanted to help people. >> the game is this saturday on 18th street. they have a goal of raising $30,000. tickets are $15. kids 12 and under are free. it is nice to see this issue is coming out. not only the danger of fighting the fire but the toxic chemicals and everything burning in the building. we have heard more about this in the recent years. >> we talk about the firehouses that are really old. think about the fire yesterday, where are they storing the equipment and do they continue to breathe in the exhaust with the fire trucks in and out of the station? if they have the donations, they can do more research and everyone is a lot safer. >> great. >>> let's get back to the breaking news we brought you in southeast texas, harris county. this is thick dark smoke. emergency crews responded to a scene of a fire in the city of crosby outside of houston. at this point, two employees may be hurt. roads are closed in the area and as you look at the picture, you understand why the scho

we found a normal brain function and all the firefighters we examined, so following the firefighters, the assemblyman exempt the fire stations from their bill, so this is the first piece of legislation that anyone is aware of what somebody got an exception because they weren't concerned about their health. this is also our case. as you can see here, the building itself is 12 feet away from the antenna. if you look at the building in itself, it is a three unit building and it has a deck. this antenna will be shortened. basically where the red line is. therefore, it will be straightforward to anyone using the deck. furthermore, below, there are three units and families living on it. this will be emitting radiation 24/7, and i don't think, at this close distance, it might be unacceptable. if you look at all the studies that have been happening, this two main reasons. one is how close you are to the antenna, and how long you are exposed to it. in this particular case, they will be exposed up to 12 hours a day, every single day, you can see the distance is 12 feet away , basically. if this

we are talking about firefighters and hockey. back in 2008 a group of oakland firefighters came together for a charity game and raised $10,000. >> that money went to buy jerseys and inner city children. more than a decade later they are still playing and this year they have a new cause and new goal. here is more >>> there is nothing like it, the sound of the stick hitting the puck, the skate sliding across the ice. hockey is a game all its own, but on this ice, this game really is about the people. every player on this ice is a firefighter. fighter. these are the good guys, our friends of about 20 years. >> reporter: almost every year for the past decade they have come from the bay area to play and raise money for a cause they care about. in 2015 they played for miley, the daughter of an oakland a rare cancer. it was a fight she would later win. this year they will play their game in oakland. the san jose sharks organization is so proud to be a part of this. the oakland knights center is the original location for the first game t

and firefighters battling the fire. we are people of hope and resurrection, as devastating as this fire is, i know that the faith and love embodied by this magnificent cathedral will grow stronger in the hearts of all christians. anne thompson joins us as well. the use the word "resurrection," easter is coming up. the most important holy day on the catholic calendar. there would be events there all week long. the mass on easter would be not something you think of when you think of church, a hot ticket. >> it would be standing room only, without a doubt, chris. this is certainly one of the biggest weeks of the year for notre dame cathedral. usually, they have 30,000 people a day go through there. or really busy weeks it could be as high as 50,000. that gives you what kind of magnet it is. the usbbc statement called notre dame a world treasure and indeed it is. in fact, when you were reading that statement, we could see -- you know, they have those dinner boats that go up and down the seine. and going past notre dame is a

and look at the top reach of the firefighters' aerials. it is such a large structure and the city's streets in paris are so twisty, turny, and tiny that it is hard to keep on hand the size hardware you would need to fight a medium high-rise fire, to fight a fire of this size. we're happy to be joined by tom von ness, former fdny commissioner. thank you for being with us. fill in the gaps what i've been saying about fighting this as an exterior fire and the role of the ceiling joists and keeping up the walls. >> you kind of hit it on the head, brian. it's too early to say how it started, but you and i -- you've been around new york city long enough to know that if you had to make a bet, you'd bet it was the construction going on. they may not have had a fire watch, enough water ready to put a small fire out immediately. you don't know that for sure yet, but it really makes everybody aware of how important it is to put a fire out quickly. because once something like this gets going with an inability to get enough water on it, everything they

firefighters gfap scenes in our life which have a great. and that always very amenable they do so much hard work and they they go in places where. frankly we wouldn't go if they paid you right now they don't pay combat mode. you know so it's a great people they are and it's great to see them getting knocked out not owners is a i think he's a palace. boats you know you do s still he a lot of p people -- confirmed n social media saying it's in regards of all this let's get out in the streets on saturday and saturday is due to be a big day all of of at mobilise us you are. demonstrating that this is a piece in the guardian saying you know on the one hand what happened this week you could argue politically. it was good for many michael in the sense of the the right reflexes in postponing his pants beat she it's a catastrophe that would offer a chance to him for him to become bring the nation together in some respects and he did have a lot of rhetoric. onon tuesdsday that t that was speakingng allll of that. the p paris on its capapacity to unit

i have to just mention, i find paris firefighters to be incredibly well-trained just as urban firefighters to begin with. the fact that they were able to control the fire spread as much as they did and save a large portion of the building including the two bell towers, it's a tremendous effort. i think any firefighter that you ask that does this for a living would tell you that this is a significant fire fighting event and those firefighters should be praised. >> do you agree? >> yeah. they're young. they're military in paris. >> really? they're part of the military. >> yeah, after they do their time in the military in the fire service, they go out to the fire departments around the rest of the france. you get a young aggressive group of people. i think it's a tough call for the fire chief in charge because he had to decide when is that roof going to collapse. >> that's what i'm wondering. you don't want to send firefighters into the church itself if the roof is going to collapse. >> nope. >> and if he knows like the chief mentioned, the locals know. they know it's a lead roof. they know i

flames ravage the medieval catholic church there is massive damage the spire has collapsed but firefighters say that the towers have been saved this symbol of the city of light tonight it shines no more i'm bored. this is the day. it's a thousand years of history it represents friends. that i feel a care that is destroying that was it looks just to me. i feel the cathedral has been snatched away from a. cultural heritage its fronts that's been hit today france is spending is to. go to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with what paris and the whole world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral this e.p. the catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of the parisian soul for almost a millennium or tonight it took only an hour for the flames to turn notre dame's wooden frame and its towering spire recognized the world over into a smoldering relic. a heart rending sight as the spire found striking at a symbol of french culture in the heart of paris. the massive blaze sp

is something that one cannot fathom in a capital city like paris where are we supposed to have firefighters who are trained for duck out of situations and we know that after the terrorist attacks that took place in paris they weren't those exercises of in fact creation and firefighters must have been involved then we know it as the exercise also took place in the tom so why did they take so alone tonight there was a state of emergency after the terror attack in twenty two tina right yeah so there would have been time to prepare for all kinds of disasters but those exercises together by the firefighters the police the emergency services were done in light of the terrorist attacks but they like if people are if martin see services can intervene in so situations why couldn't they intervene tonight and that's that's something that the mayor of paris. will have to answer for as soon as tomorrow why did that response was. responses to what the the money for the rehabilitation was in there to begin with that may have spared his old goods if it had been there in the first place i mean we don't know

i'm no expert of firefighting.would wonder if they were showing something from the air to put the fire. i don't know that happens. i haven't seen that. brent: we are watching live pictures of the cathedral. it is still in flames. you can see it even more now that night has fallen. how do you feel when you think about what has happened? you must be devastated. >> from my personal experience, i was born christian, and i would say this is a sad day for humanity, not only for christianity. when i parked the car, i saw a big--the fact that it was this day, it helped me to realize what i said, when i watched the reaction of the people who were watching it, when they were talking, but paradoxically, the silence dominated it. the book -- the disbelief that it was happening. that reminded me that my experience was what the twin towers falling must have been like in america. i'm ever watching coverage for a week. it took me a week to realize the magnitude. this is huge. it's centuries of christian heritage. not only for fran

one firefighter has been injured.aid just then. last night it looked like a complete catastrophe. there was a moment when it looked like the north belfry might be going to collapse but thanks to the heroism of the firefighters last night, the main structure of the building has survived on this morning there is a sense of hope and determination i think to rebuild, so she is there, magnificent, majestic, defiant, and going to be rebuilt. how did you live for the moment last night? when did you first hear about what happened? i was at the embassy hosting a reception for british citizens when i heard the news of the fire and followed it very closely. i went on to the street away from the cathedral and all i could see was the darkness which was itself very evocative because normally the cathedral are so beautifully lit up. i went down there this morning to see for myself there this morning to see for myself the situation and there are many, many people here today. i havejust come from the palace where i delivered a message

yeah there is some reason for that at least the head of the firefighters of paris. they hope to know that they were able to contain the fire and they could safe the structure of the main structure off the can see through because the fear was that once the fire would if eaten from the roof beams down through to the stone vault that keeps up the inner roof off the cathedral then the forces of gravity and pull would sort of press the the walls of the kids to the side and the whole edifice of huge added fist would just break down in on itself we don't know yet how much damage they can see through us built from sandstone know how much damage this fire the heat has done to the sense stone how much structural problems there might be for the future but so far as we can see in the back even though it's quite dark the main body of the church is still holding out and two three hours ago the flames you could really see them sort of a licking up against the sky and just burning bright red that has now died and firefighters are still working for a huge cranes as throwing very str

this is said that firefighters are doing their best to save the masterpieces of course human life was the first consideration your thirty's very quickly evacuated people. and set up a security perimeter the. the task at hand at the moment though to try and put out that fire and try and rescue those icons of religious and historical value. so of course we'll be keeping you across developments from paris as the evening progresses let's go to some of the day's other stories now though the chinese tech giant well way has been making headlines for the wrong reasons in recent months and it claims that its products help spy on countries for beijing now the belgian sent of a cyber security saying that it's found no evidence the company's technologies pose any sort of threat r.t. correspondent peter oliver explains. the belgium center for cyber security the c.c.p. of completed well the main part of their investigation into chinese telecommunications giant who are way they say that they pose no threat to the security or in belgium to cyber security in belgium they say they will continue monitor

firefighters say they have made good progress.e studio. >> jesse, i know there is an oakland fire investigator on the scene asked to report to the command post. have you seen any evidence of that and has anyone told you anything else? >> reporter: we saw the video that we just showed our viewers, that was given to police and the fire investigator on scene. they are already looking into how this started. that video, the cell phone video will be a part of that investigation as they believe at least the fire department told us earlier that this started outside by one of the first arriving companies. they called it in as a fire outside of the building and then it spread to the interior of the building. what caused the fire initially, we are told by a witness that it was caused by a homeless encampment. that has not been proven yet. it looks like from the video that a lot of stuff caught fire outside of the building. >> thank you so much. >>> while this was going on, i did get a tweet from a follower who was letting us know that a hot

flames ravaged the medieval catholic church there is massive damage the spire has collapsed but firefighters say the towers have been saved tonight this symbol to the world of the city of lights it shines no more. this is the day. this is it. it's a thousand years of history it represents friends. i feel like. it's destroying those of the justinian. i feel the cathedral has been snatched away from this. cultural heritage it's been hit today francis. to. our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all the around the world welcome we begin the day with what paris and the whole world lost today a massive fire gutted notre dame cathedral the seat this catholic church this medieval monument to french gothic architecture has been a fundamental part of paris's identity of the parisian soul for almost a millennium. president emanuel he visited the scene of the fire and he pledged that france will rebuild notre dame. if you can get it it's the cathedral of old french citizens even if i have knitting here and its history is our history that he thought fit in. and then it burned. and believe it burn

artifacts in total you had four hundred firefighters around four hundred five protest on site including one hundred that. to save the artifacts and we're talking about you mentioned it. we're also talking about ornaments carved ornaments you know believe that couldn't be salvaged that would probably be damaged because not only because of the fire but oh so because of the water that was poured to stop the fire but we also have the bells fear is a word that in the two towers should have should they have collapsed those beds would have been broken for ever and they are very old bears that they back from the fifteen cent tree. we call organs very instruments very. valuable instruments and obviously what is there was a treasure chambre as well that seemed to have been salvaged in entirety by the firefighters but unfortunately what was also a symbol of the rows windows and all the stained glass seem to have completely gone to have completely disappeared under the fire and it seems like this really is such a loss not only to the art and the artifacts and the relics inside as you said but of co

did you see the firefighters?ar to us how quickly they managed to get to the building. i think smallerfire engines got to get to the building. i think smaller fire engines got the quite quickly. what took longer was the big stuff and from where we were it looked like no matter how many people there were there was nothing they could really do. and it's pretty impressive what they have managed to do. how flames at the moment? what can you tell us? we can still see the back is smouldering but it has definitely died down significantly. when we left the flat we could not see anything past the front two towers. it was all smoke and inferno. how are you feeling watching this? i know you say you have not been living there long but it is an iconic welding around the world. i have woken up to it every morning for the last three months and it is a huge part of french culture and history. a huge part of my literature degree. notre dame p°p5 up my literature degree. notre dame pops up in so many cultural references. so it is q

the firefighters say the next few minutes are crucial. unclear if firefighters will be able to keep this blaze from spreading and causing more destruction, he spoke outside the cathedral. he said we are not sure we are capable of stopping the spreading to the second tower, so this is about preventing the whole building becoming engulfed rather than saving some of the sections which have been terribly damaged. he goes on to say. let me bring this up again. if it collapses you can bring this up again. if it collapses you can manage bring this up again. if it collapses you can manage how important the damage will be. shiv malik is an eyewitness at the scene and gave this account to the bbc in the last hour. iam in iamina i am in a book shop shakespeare and company people will know it well. i am on the third or fourth floor of this building, about 150 metres away from the cathedral, so i can kind of, i have a decent view of the roof, about an hour—and—a—half ago, so roof, about an hour—and—a—half ago, so probably about 7.00 local time is when

firefighters were able to save the facade and bell towers. just days before easter, officials also recovered priceless relics. tweeted this photo earlier, it shows some of the items from the flames. the collection includes a crown of thorns purportedly placed on jesus before his crucifixion. nicholas paul leads the center for medieval studies and joins me now. >> thank you for having he. >> so people in france and across the world are shocked and saddened by this news notre dame was ablaze for so many hours. those flames are now contain asked the good news is it was saved from total destruction, but so much has been lost. how difficult do you think it will be to rebuild as the french president has vowed to do? >> i think it could be very, very challenging. i don't actually know -- since we don't know exactly what has happened inside the building it's tough to tell what kind of structural work will need to be done to reinforce what remains, but i think it will be a very, very significant challenge. but one i think a lot of us hope will be unde

houses have a club level only for firefighters. and we like to eat -- i'm not a firefighter, but i like to eat. and oftentimes it is upstairs. i mean, it's on the roof of the firehouse. so what members of the department be precluded from being up there? >> well, at this point we have carved out an area sufficient, consistent with the discussions we've had with fire command staff, that would be available for fire for training purposes. i assume we can look at options relative more consistent access. >> i'm just saying that there -- >> it is an urban area. it is very difficult to find outdoor space. i can certainly understand that desire. >> yes. did you want to say something, chief? okay, all right. >> i don't think so. i think i understand what you're saying, just to have access to the outdoors. usually the firefighters are not eating outdoors. i'm not sure if i got you correctly. >> well, not eating outdoors necessarily -- >> access to open space? >> yes. access to open space. but we do have some barbecues, don't we, on some -- >>

attempts offered to sort of stick materials together and it is a hugely difficult therefore for the firefighters to somehow contain contain this big fire that is just smoldering away and still burning away we can at the moment it seems to be a bit lower but then from time to time it just sort of goes up and it's sort of like reaching up to the sky and we see we can see the smoke white smoke rising from the body of off not in the background and so it means it doesn't mean that it wasn't love that it took so long to find the money for renovation but it means that the state to there is the separation of state and church in france and so the state didn't really step in maybe early enough to sort of find the money and to preserve this historical french monument and there will be many questions asked about why this happened and how this happened but this is for the following days indeed oh ask you this i want to ask no this is well but barbara let me start with you have you heard anyone say you're talking about possible causes i mean obviously people are going to ask themselves you know how did this h