Notre Dame Fire: Updates & Efforts to Save the Dome

A fire broke out around 6 p.m. this Thursday, March 31, in a restaurant adjacent to the Evian-les-Bains casino. More than 120 firefighters and a forward command center were engaged. Shortly before 10 p.m., the flames reached the roof of the casino and continued to spread, threatening its emblematic “Belle Époque” dome.

A violent fire broke out this Tuesday, March 31, near the Evian-les-Bains casino, in Haute-Savoie. Around 6 p.m., flames broke out from the roof of the restaurant “Le Bureau”, located in a building adjoining the games room.

“Significant resources have been deployed”according to the Haute-Savoie departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS 74). Shortly before 10 p.m., more than 120 firefighters were still working to try to put out the flames which reached the roof of the casino and continued to spread.

“The objective is to save the dome”confided the firefighters present on site to France 3 Alpes. An emblematic dome of the Evian-les-Bains casino and its Belle Époque architecture.

Fighting the fire is made particularly difficult by the weather conditions and the wind which is blowing strongly this evening on the banks of Lake Geneva.

According to initial information from the prefecture, “insulation work” were believed to be the cause of the fire. At 10:15 p.m., thick smoke and a strong smell of burning still invaded the city center of the spa.

Customers and staff inside the restaurant as well as neighbors of the establishment, in total at least 35 people, were evacuated in the evening and received at the spa resort’s convention center. No casualties have been reported, according to the prefecture.