Report: Notre Dame Security Guard Delayed Fire Response | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This informational nugget was sent to me by Ben Shapiro, who represents the Daily Wire, and since this is one of the most topical news events, it should be published on BCN.

    The author of this post is Paul Bois.

    The latest report on the horrific Notre Dame fire is that a newly appointed security guard misunderstood the alert system and sent his colleagues to the wrong building when the fire initially broke out.

    "A security guard in charge of protecting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was working only his third day and sent his fellow colleague to the wrong building to check on the alert when the fire first broke out," reports Fox News. "A major miscommunication occurred amid the early warnings of the blaze as one of the guards went to check the fire-free sacristy, not the attic of the Cathedral, a move that delayed the response to the fire."

    While Paris prosecutors have largely concluded the fire did not result from a criminal or terrorist act, alleging it most likely stemmed from an electrical shortage or a smoldering cigarette, the delayed response time may indeed have further increased the damage done to the beloved cathedral.

    "Only 30 minutes later, the cathedral staff realized they made a mistake and sent the guard to the attic - also known as 'the forest' for its aged timber beams that hold up the roof - only to find that the fire was already in full swing," the report continued. "The report found that the person who notified the location of the fire to the guard was working there only his third day and that he just started getting used to the alert system."

    Though the guard failed to properly read the system, reports are that the system itself was "complex and dated, prompting questions whether the person in charge of it even understood the alert in general."

    As The Daily Wire's Emily Zanotti reported, the Notre Dame fire most likely originated from a burning cigarette, leading prosecutors to investigate whether the fire resulted from simple negligence. Several weeks after the initial blaze, the scaffolding firm originally charged with renovating the Notre Dame cathedral admitted that construction workers were smoking cigarettes on site. However, the company, Le Bras Freres, denies that it started the fire.

    "We condemn it. But the fire started inside the building ... so for company Le Bras, this is not a hypothesis, it was not a cigarette butt that set Notre-Dame de Paris on fire," said Le Bras Frères spokesman Marc Eskenazi.

    Following the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the cathedral will be even "more beautiful" while also calling for it to be rebuilt in five years.

    "The fire at Notre Dame reminds us that our history never stops and we will always have challenges to overcome," Macron said. "We will rebuild Notre Dame, more beautiful than before - and I want it done in the next five years. We can do it. After the time of testing comes a time of reflection and then of action."

    Experts speculate, however, that the rebuilding of Notre Dame could take decades. For instance, the roof was comprised of oak beams cut from centuries-old trees that likely do not even exist in Europe today.

    "Some of that material may be reusable, and that's a painstaking exercise. It's like an archaeological excavation," Duncan Wilson, chief executive of the conservation organization Historic England, told The Guardian.