CHARLESTON — The world watched Notre Dame Cathedral sustain significant damage in a Monday fire and it felt like a personal loss for Charleston attorney Rusty Webb.
Webb has visited the iconic Paris cathedral a dozen times. He called the fire tragic.
“It’s tragic for Paris. It’s tragic for France. It’s tragic for the world because it’s such an icon,” Webb said.
Flames were shooting through the roof of the main cathedral as Webb and millions of others watched on television and the internet. He said Notre Dame’s location in the oldest part of Paris makes it difficult to reach with firefighting apparatus.
“You can’t get in or out of Notre Dame easily because everything is narrow. It was built for small people going in and out of corridors,” Webb said. “There are no streets around it and there’s nothing around it but the island and it’s so in the middle of the island that there’s no way the fire boats could reach that fire.”
There was no immediate word on what may have started the blaze. There was lots of scaffolding in the area of the fire as part of renovation efforts.
Webb said Notre Dame Cathedral has been through a lot in its long history and has always bounced back.
“It’s been raided and it’s been used as a warehouse. It made it through Medieval times to today so I’m confident the French will rebuild it the best they can. It’s just devastating,” Webb said.
The cathedral draws some 12 million visitors a year. Webb said he and his family always try to get a hotel room where he can see Notre Dame.
“That’s an area that we love. It’s just absolutely beautiful and so tragic at the same time to see it burning,” Webb said.
JJenkins@wvmetronews.com
