Rouen Cathedral's spire catches fire

Dark plume of smoke was seen rising from the historic building in the French city

French firefighters battled a blaze that broke out on the spire of Rouen's Gothic cathedral on Thursday.

A dark plume of smoke was seen rising from a canopy and scaffolding surrounding the spire, in scenes reminiscent of the devastating blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris in 2019, which also started during renovation work.

The fire was brought under control within 90 minutes of breaking out, authorities in the Normandy city said. At one stage more than 60 firefighters were involved.

Stephane Gouezec, of the Seine-Maritime firefighters, later said crews were working to ensure there were no remaining “hot spots”.

He told reporters the risk of the flames spreading was low because the fire was in an area that was mostly metal.

The 151-metre iron spire was installed after its wooden and lead predecessor was destroyed by lightning in 1822, according to a tourist information page for the city. When it was installed the iron spire was the tallest in the world.

Mr Gouezec said construction workers first spotted the fire and alerted authorities.

The Archibishop for Rouen Cathedral said the site workers are safe.

The cathedral, considered one of France's finest, was painted several times by impressionist artist Claude Monet in the 19th century.

Its spire had been surrounded by scaffolding and the white canopy for several weeks.

La Cathédrale de Rouen, Le Portail au Soleil by Claude Monet. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

French channel BFMTV reported that the fire had been burning for about 12 hours by 1pm local time.

The cathedral was evacuated and the area cordoned off by police.

The extent of the damage was unclear for now, the prefecture said.

Earlier, Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol posted on X that ‘’the beginning of a fire is under way on the spire of the cathedral of Rouen. The origin is unknown at this stage”.

Rouen's cathedral is home to a tomb containing the heart of Richard the Lionheart, who was King of England until his death in 1199, and had it deposited here in “remembrance of love for Normandy”.

The building was partially destroyed by Allied bombardment during the Second World War, ahead of the Normandy landings. Restoration work was only completed in the 1980s.

The Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris is scheduled to reopen in December after an unprecedented reconstruction effort. The cause of that fire was deemed an accident.