Notre Dame Cathedral Fire: Leadership, Risk, and Recommendations

This report analyzes the devastating fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, examining the critical risk and crisis factors that contributed to the incident. It delves into the leadership and strategic decisions made before and during the fire, highlighting the failures in risk management and safety protocols. The report investigates the role of outdated security systems, inadequate staffing, and the neglect of safety measures during the renovation process as key contributing factors. It explores the impact of the fire on tourism, cultural heritage, and public sentiment. The report provides recommendations for improving safety, risk assessment, leadership strategies, and crisis management to prevent similar incidents in the future, emphasizing the need for updated security systems, experienced personnel, and comprehensive safety protocols.

Fire at Notre Dame Cathedral
[Type the document subtitle]
Student Details
1/1/2020

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Executive Summary
Tourism industry is also an area of great concern for the government of the nation. The risk
and safety issue are required to be considered so that any mishap can be avoided. The fire
breakout at the Notre Dame Cathedral was the result of the ignorance of the authorities in
managing the safety and risk of the visitors. The fire breakout was due to the short circuit in
the equipments used by the workers during the renovation. The security systems at the
cathedral were also outdated. The authorities were required to ensure that there was enough
resources to cope up with such situations but due to the ineffectiveness strategies the fire
broke-out and as a result approx one-third of the roof got burnt in the fire. The authorities are
require to develop policies and strategies so that such incidents can be avoided and are
required to adapt an effective security systems.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Risk and Crisis factors involved................................................................................................4
Leadership and strategic decisions.............................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
Reference..................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Tourism and the hospitality industry is dependent on the visitors, therefore it is required that
the authorities focus on managing the risk and safety of the locations and of the visitors. The
cathedral of Notre-Dame is a centre of the cultural and religious beliefs within the city of
Paris. The cathedral is made up of stone and the entire roof is made up of the thick timber
wood. A major fire breakout from the attic region of the cathedral, due to the short circuit in
the electric equipment used by the workers at the work site, the fire breakout was because of
the inefficiency of the management as they were not able to manage the things and as a result
such incident happened. The report focuses on analysing the key reasons which led towards
the incident and identifying the key strategic and leadership issues due to which the incident
occurred. The report identifies the key strategic decisions that the authorities can undertake so
that such issues can be eliminated.
Risk and Crisis factors involved
The fire at Norte Dame Cathedral was the result of the ignorance of the critical factors and
the safety concerns within the cathedral. As the main reason behind the fire has not been
identified, but the investigations have resulted that the fire broke out due to the electric short-
circuit caused by equipment used for the renovation of the building. As during the renovation,
the workers were involved in welding and electrical installation works, which were normally
not allowed within the roof space due to the risk of the fire breakout. Also, during the
investigation, police found cigarette butts at the site, which was also not permissible at the
site. As the building was around 850-years old and timber was used in the roof framing of the
cathedral, which can be exposed to fire if it came contact with extreme heat (Vandoorne,
2019).

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The safety measures were ignored which resulted in the major fire breakout at the cathedral.
The protocol established by the regional office indicated that at least two employees should
be on duty for the cathedral security, but during the fire breakout the cathedral was under the
supervision by a concierge, also the cathedral lacked various safety measures such as
firewalls, or sprinkler system which was omitted by the management as a part of aesthetic
reasons (France24, 2019). The fire at the Cathedral was limited to the roof and resulted in the
collapse of the attic and the spire which was made up of the wood, the reason behind the
spread of the fire was that the entire roof structure was made of thick timber beams and oak
trees.
The structure of the cathedral was also a challenge for fire fighters as the fire broke out in the
roof area which was more than 100 feet from than the ground and the spire was more than
300 feet, a distance where the hose of the fire fighters cannot reach (Irfan, 2019). The North
Dame cathedral is one of the major tourist attractions for Paris, therefore the management is
required to focus upon the risk and safety strategies. The cathedral was built in the 13th
century and the building lacked major fire-protecting systems and due to it heavy timber
construction and limited open spaces the fire flames were beyond the control (Sisak &
Borenstein, 2019).
Leadership and strategic decisions
The Norte Dame Cathedral has a special place for the people of the Paris as it holds a
combination of secular, the profane and the sacred. The cathedral is a symbol of the religion
and culture followed by the people; therefore the fire breakout at the Norte Dame Cathedral
shows a high level of concern within the societies and also has a huge impact on the tourism
of the government. In 2018, approximately 13 million tourists visited the church, to explore
the art and the culture rather than for worshiping. After the fire an average of 36,000 daily

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visitors will be spending their time at some other places affecting the tourism of the state
(Calder, 2019).
The warning system at the cathedral was developed by the experts with a time period of over
six years, but still it failed to warn the management of the mishap. The historical developed
structure required that the management focus on the implementation of the modern tools and
technologies so that the safety and security can be maintained, but the leadership and
management failed to recognise such areas of concern and the major safety equipment such
as fire extinguishers, water sprinklers were missing. The incident at the Notre Dame can be
controlled if the management has focused on the key safety concerns and has ensure that the
safety measures has been undertaken during the renovation activities (BBC, 2019).
The communication was also a strategic issue in the incident, as the fire fighters were
informed after 30 minutes of the fire broke at the cathedral. The fire broke out in the attic of
the Cathedral where the renovation activities were carried out. Despite the management has
restricted the activities which generates huge heat, the renovation activities were conducted
without proper safety measures, the workers were smoking at the sight and due to the energy
released from the welding activities and most probably due to the short-circuit in the
equipment the fire spread out, and the roof made of wood resulted in spread of the fire and
within an hour the spire collapsed (The Times of Israel, 2019).
The management at the cathedral has raised approx. 600 million to rebuild the cathedral; also
they are focused on conducting the investigating activities so that the main cause behind the
fire at the Notre Dame can be identified. The cathedral contained a large number of religious
relics, artworks and other irreplaceable treasures, and due to such things it was a centre of
cultural beliefs for the people, the fire at Cathedral resulted in gathering of the people and to
sing Ave Maria and Catholic hymns. The incident indicates that there is a need and

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requirement of efficient leaderships that can focus upon such aspects so that the mishaps can
be avoided (Cuddy & Boelpaep, 2019).
The security system installed at the cathedral was out-dated and even there was no such
system at the roof of the cathedral was the renovation work was under progress, as a result
the maximum of the part of the wooden roof got damaged due to the fire. The security guards
evacuated the cathedral when they get the indication of the fire within the fire, but were not
able to locate the area within the structure, and when they came to know about the fire at the
attic, the fire was well spread and after that the fire fighters were informed, which indicates
that the security system at the Notre Dame was not efficient enough to deal with such
situations (Bowden, 2019).
The fire fighters also faced certain difficulties while they were dealing with the fire breakout,
as due to the historical structure and majority of the structure was formed of the thick timber
wood, due to which the fire spread easily using the timber as a fuel, also the stone structure of
the cathedral made it difficult for the fire fighters to control the situation from outside. The
officials were involved in the fundraising for the renovation of the cathedral including the
spire, as the cathedral required renovation because it has started to show of it age, due to the
pollution and the weathering, the walls of the cathedral has been stained and pitted. The
renovation process involved the implementation of the technological changes within the
cathedral so that such incidents can be identified before they occur, but due to the ignorance
of the safety measures during the renovation process, the cathedral had to suffer the extensive
fire breakout (Papadopoulos, 2019).
Recommendations
Tourism and hospitality involves risk for both the traveller as well as the travel industry, as
any risk within the industry will affect the tourism of the nation. Notre Dame Cathedral is the

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one of the major attraction of the city, therefore it is required that the authorities ensure the
risk and safety factors so that the tourism industry within the nation can be protected. As the
cathedral attracted approximately 13 million tourists in 2018 (Crandall, 2018), therefore it is
important to ensure the safety and security of the visitors or the tourists. The authorities are
required to analyse the risk within the industry and develop policies and strategies so that the
risk can be eliminated from the industry (CBI, 2019).
The changing business environment and with the technological changes within the nature it is
required that the tourist safety and risk is analysed and eliminated utilising such innovative
tools and technologies (Benckendorff, et al., 2019). The authorities at the Notre Dame were
required to effectively analyse the risks that would arise within the cathedral and should have
taken necessary steps to overcome such issues. As the authorities has focused on the
renovation of the cathedral but the renovation activities were being conducted at a slow pace
and also the safety measures were neglected by the workers. The management knew that the
attic is built up of thick timber, and excessive heat is to be avoided within the area so that the
mishaps can be voided but still the workers were conducting heavy welding works at the roof
area, and even they were found smoking. Therefore, it is required that the authorities develop
policies and strategies so that the safety measures can be maintained within the cathedral.
The authorities are required to focus upon the security of the cathedral, as during the incident
only a newly joined guard was at duty, and he was not experienced to handle such situations.
Therefore, the authorities are required to focus upon the experience level of the security
personnel assigned for the security of the cathedral (Mikelionis\, 2019). Notre Dame
cathedral is a place of both the tourist attraction as well as a place of cultural beliefs,
therefore the authorities are required to ensure that the activities within the area are conducted
are safe and secure so that the visitors or the tourist can be protected from any harm or
damage. The authorities are also required to develop a code of conduct that guides how to

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effectively investigate the requirements of the technology update within the building, so that
such incidents can be avoided in future.
Conclusion
Notre Dame Cathedral is a symbol of culture as well as a religious belief for the people of
Paris. The cathedral is also a centre of attraction and attracts a large number of tourists for the
nation. Therefore, it is required that the authorities ensure the safety and risk measures are
being undertaken, so that the safety of the visitors can be ensured. The fires at the Notre
Dame Cathedral result in the damage of the Cathedral architecture and also affected the
values and sentiments of the people who were religiously attached with the Cathedral. The
main cause of the fire has not been identified but the investigation has resulted that the
incident occurred because of the high energy released from the on-going welding activities
within the roof of the cathedral.
The authorities has restricted the activities that would result in release of high energy within
the attic area, as the roof was made up of the thick timber which may get exposed to fire due
to the extensive heat released. But, despite the restriction the renovation activity included
welding, which resulted in generating heat and an electric short circuit within the equipment
is considered as a reason for the fire breakout. Therefore, the management is required to
focus upon developing policies and strategies so that such issues can be eliminated and the
safety can be ensured.

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