I never have had the chance to visit Paris, so my experiences involving the Notre Dame cathedral were limited to marveling at pictures of it and climbing up it while playing Assassin’s Creed Unity. Neither of those experiences compares to seeing the actual thing, of course. But just the same, I was heartbroken to watch the news footage of the fire that destroyed so much of it this past week.
At the same time, I was amazed to learn later that so many of its priceless artifacts were rescued. Some of the more valuable statues fortunately been moved off-site while renovations were being done. But during the fire itself, the fire department followed its protocol, which I saw best described on Twitter: Save the people, save the art, save what you can, save the structure. The building, ancient as it is, could be rebuilt and has been rebuilt multiple times in its history. The artifacts were irreplaceable. Fire plans and disaster drills can seem tedious and unnecessary, but they can be invaluable when the need arises.