The company, which had set up the scaffolding around the arrow of Notre Dame de Paris, today admitted and regretted that some of its workers had broken the smoking ban at the site, but "ruled out" the possibility that this fact has nothing to do with the fire in the cathedral.
"Indeed, there are colleagues who have at times violated this ban, and we regret this," Le Bras Freres spokesman Marc Eskenazy told AFP, adding that "under no circumstances can a bad-tempered ankle be cause of the fire at Notre Dame de Paris ".
"These colleagues admitted to the police that they happened to smoke," he explained.
The spokesman reacted to these statements in today's article in the satirical weekly Le Canard enchaine, according to which investigators found seven cigarette butts at the site of the fire.
"There was indeed a ban on smoking on scaffolding," continued Escenazi. But even though "this ban was becoming more or less respected (…) it was a bit complicated to get off because it was time consuming".
However, it is "out of the question" that the fire was due to this negligence, he insisted, adding that "if someone has tried to light a fireplace, he knows that not many things will happen if he puts a gopa on an oak log".
Referring to the scenario that the fire was caused by the electric motors of the scaffolding elevators, Mark Eskenazi assured that these motors "did not cause any problems".
"In each case, they have seized it, despite obstacles we can scarcely imagine."
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