Eiffel Tower on Fire
 

All news outlets reporting the the
top of the Eiffel Tower is on fire.

Can anyone else confirm?

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st...072208366.html

This is also being reported on CNN.com as breaking news.

Jennie

kjl:

There's a webcam at http://www.pipefest.com/paris/EiffelTower.htm.

There does appear to be quite a bit of smoke coming from the top.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...e_eiffel_tower

I hope they're able to control it quickly. I was so looking forward to seeing the "sparkling" lights again soon!

From TF1 (Hurried translation):

A fire broke out in a technical area of the last floor of the Eiffel Tower around 7:00pm, where radio and TV transmitters are located. Around 7:55 pm, a black smoke was still visible. All floors were immediately evacuated as a precaution. For the moment, it appears there are no casualties. For the President of the new Eiffel Tower Company (?) Jean-Bernard Bros, it is a question of a "small fire."

The police think that the fire is undoubtedly due to a short-circuit in an electrical cabinet. The city hall of Paris, owner of the Tower, indicated that the fire originated in an elevator.
Two teams of EDF (Electricite de France) and TDF (Telediffusion de France) arrived quickly to determine the exact origin of the fire.

Twelve fire trucks were sent to the Tower. At the foot of the monument a security perimeter was put in place. Traffic was also stopped.

ABC is reporting that the fire is out. It was in an equipment area above the observation level. Wonder what it was like in those elevators when they were evacuating the tower!?

TF1 is also reporting now that the fire is under control and no more smoke can be seen. Approximately 500 had to be evacuated. No one was injured. Some tourists reported smelling a strong odor of (I assume, burning) plastic. They reported it to authorities and the elevators were shut down. They said they were frightened as they had to descend on foot.

Thank goodness this seems to be a minor incident.