And gasped and saw the spire engulfed in flames, and from there, we watched as the rest of paris watched in silent shock. A part of what made this essentially daunting and challenging is the unique nature of the fire happening in a tall cathedral thats centuries old, an interior made almost entirely of wood, that meant that standard Fire Fighting equipment was no match as the inferno grew and grew. These first pictures from inside show ash, smoke and the vastness there of that space outside the pair of bell towers immortalized in victor hugos hunchback of notre dame survived along with the elaborate gothic facade. French president Emmanuel Macron is vowing to rebuild. Cnns Jim Bittermann is live in paris right now. What do we know was rescued out of the space and what they are finding this morning as they go in and try to see what the damage is . Reporter well, what was rescued, first, christine, in fact, they managed to get out a number of artifacts, more portable type things, chairs,
Started in the wooden beams that make up the churchs roof. The flames erupted late monday and quickly engulfed the masterpiece. More than 400 firefighters battling the flames, in hopes of saving it from collapsing. We watched in horror as the cathedrals spiral toppled, falling through the roof and changing the skyline. The faithful singing hymns as they watched the powerful symbol of catholicism and france burn. Stone construction of the cathedral have been saved, along with many of the churchs relics. We go outside of notre dame with the latest. Reporter the slight drizzle in paris has done nothing to detract the vast crowds that have come out to see for themselves how bad the damage was to this architectural marvel. As you say, the soul, very much, of paris. Many of them trying to get as close as they can. All of them quietly mourning as they look on. The message from the french president , we will rebuild, is very much the one were getting from authorities here this northern i morni