France's Junior interior minister Laurent Nunez praised the actions of the Paris Fire Service after a fire erupted at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday evening.
According to the minister, they had battled "not just outside but inside the building at great risk to their own lives."
There had been 500 firefighters at the scene after the fire broke out who were replaced by another 500 firefighters around midnight.
"They saved the edifice, but it all came down to 15-30 minutes," Nunez added.
According to him, the primary preoccupation of the police and fire services was the “security and safety of the building” and identifying weaknesses in Notre Dame’s structure.
"We have identified some vulnerabilities in the structure…notably in the vault and the north transept pinion that needs securing," the Guardian cited Nunez as saying.
Nunez added this work would take 48 hours and residents of five buildings around the north transept were being evacuated.
