Notre Dame on Fire: A Review and Key Lessons Learnt

Notre-Dame on Fire _{Source: The Guardian}

On 1 December 2022, the National Fire and Emergency Preparedness Council (NFEC) held a charity film preview of “Notre Dame on Fire” at Shaw Theatres. Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, Member of Parliament for Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency, and Deputy Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Law, graced the charity event together with about 600 guests.

Comr with NFEC Board of Directors _{Commissioner SCDF Eric Yap (back row, sixth from right), Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (back row, fifth from right), Mr Markham Shaw, Chairman NFEC (back row, fourth from right), Mr John Wu, Vice-chairman NFEC (back row, third from right) with the NFEC Board of Directors. Source: NFEC Facebook Page.}

The charity film preview seeks to raise funds for the various fire prevention and emergency preparedness programmes and initiatives driven by NFEC.

“As we work towards building a Nation of Lifesavers, we hope to garner your invaluable support as we continue to reach out to the community to raise awareness on fire prevention and emergency preparedness,” said Mr Markham Shaw in his welcome address to the audience before the start of the film.

^{Mr Markham Shaw, Chairman NFEC, giving a welcome address to the audience before the start of the movie. Source: NFEC Facebook Page}

Rescue995 had the privilege of catching this gripping, moving and inspirational French film preview. Inspired by a true fire disaster that happened in Paris, France on 15 April 2019, this powerful film tells the story of a team of brave, heroic firefighters who risked everything to save the Notre Dame Cathedral from the raging inferno. Despite the catastrophic damage to the iconic cathedral, the courage, resilience, and perseverance of the country and its people were well captured in this touching film.

We now explore the incredible story within this extraordinary film and some of the key lessons on fire safety from this viewing experience.

The film commenced with an introduction to the cathedral as tours in various languages conveyed the historic significance of the landmark. The opening scene included film shots of a workman’s smouldering cigarette, an electrical short, and conversations about the unreliable alarm system foreshadow the impending disaster that was about to occur. A typical yet anticipatory build-up to a movie plot.

Though the cause of fire was never really uncovered, the fire in the film was shown to have started from the attic beneath the cathedral roof.

^{Source: Screen captures from the movie trailer “Notre-Dame on Fire”}

Throughout the film, there were suspenseful and emotional scenes displaying acts of heroism from the firefighters fighting the blaze, as well as cathedral officials who were desperately attempting to rescue the precious relics from the burning cathedral.

One perplexing subplot in the film involved an elderly woman dialling for emergency services repeatedly as she was concerned about an escaped kitten. Alas, the kitten was not going anywhere at all — a strong reminder that we should dial ‘995’ only for life-threatening emergencies.

Another troubling scene showed how heavily congested the traffic was at the time of the fire, which delayed the response of the fire engines and other emergency vehicles. One can surmise that had there been better traffic management, it could have saved the firefighters precious minutes and allowed them to arrive earlier at the burning cathedral to commence firefighting efforts.

^{Source: Screen captures from the movie trailer “Notre-Dame on Fire”}

Upon arrival at the cathedral, the firefighters were presented with various challenges in accessing the tower due to the high winds, quick fire spread, and inadequate water supply. It was later revealed in the film that only one cathedral official had access to the tower, and he had to travel miles back to the blazing cathedral so that the firefighters could gain access to the tower.

The cathedral was medieval hence it had no sprinkler system installed and no fire doors or fire-retardant materials used to separate the roofs and floors of the historic building.

At its climax, the film took audience inside the burning cathedral, when structures began to collapse, and everything seemed to go downhill for the firefighters. The visual effects of these scenes were excellent, and coupled with the great dialogues and acting of the casts, truly created some classic scenes in this film.

^{Source: Screen captures from the movie trailer “Notre-Dame on Fire”}