fire engulfs Notre Dame cathedral in Paris

[ducks4you]

That is a terrible loss. I looked it up, it was built in 1163 and took twenty years to build.

I think it took over a century to build. It is such a shame. I hope that the reconstruction will be worthy of Notre Dame's magnificence.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/europe/what-was-lost-what-survived-devastating-notre-dame-fire-n995026
The large oaks they are speaking of "Old World Forest" trees:
https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/science-update-4.pdf
https://www.afar.com/magazine/10-amazing-ancient-forests-around-the-world
IF the French weren't so gosh darn crazy about climate change and using threatened materials, they Might be able to find the private owner(s) of enough old growth trees to harvest for the renovation. They were chopped down long ago in Europe, and are valuable bc they grew slowly and are very dense. The US Naval ship "Old Ironsides" (Revolutionary War) was Not made from iron, but old growth forest wood. It was so strong that British cannonballs bounced off of it. Even my 100yo+ house has supports that are made from oak that is much denser than an oak to be bought today. It can become stronger in time.
I actually hope that they will rebuild with modern very strong steel supports and use wood as a veneer. Builders today couple wood with steel and I believe that this could be done. In this way IMHO the church will last another 1,000 years...unless we are goners in 12 years, the year 2031.
Btw, on a recent "This Old House" a furniture builder harvested an old growth tree that had died and fallen into about 15 ft of a nearby river a 100 years ago, or so. Free for the taking, if you have the scuba gear and the guts and skill to pull it up to the surface. There are MANY solutions to problems.
ALSO, I spoke to a business in CO that harvests pines that have died from a recent beetle infestation, brought about by a severe drought. They build HOMES from these trees, free for the taking, just have to get them out of the forest and back to the shop. Good wood, NOT going to waste. Leaving them in the forests is just a big fire hazard.

 

[canesisters]

They could pop over to Venice.. there's a church there built on 1,000,000 submerged logs that they might be able to snag..