On Monday, April 15, 2019, I took a photo with my mobile phone at exactly 18:46 GMT of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
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Only five minutes later, I first saw the smoke, then I witnessed a once in a lifetime disaster first hand. To this day I remember the smell of burning oak and metal, the gentle sobbing of the people crying in disbelief and the constant noise of the French sirens breaking through the eerie spectacle.
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The “whoosh” and the crackling was so loud, the fire tornado so immense, that I felt the heat hot on my cheeks all the way up the river Seine, where I was standing near the bridge maybe 700 metres away. The brave firefighters on the balcony eventually had to give up and let the massive fire eat the lead roof. I knew there was nothing they could do at this point. It was over. A collective gasp went through the crowd when the spire came down.
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