He is at the origin of a incredible outpouring of solidarity. The mayor of Faymont in Haute-Saône, Jean-Philippe Gimenez, is the one who triggered the wave of support from forest communities in Francethe same evening of the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris in April 2019, to rebuild the frame of the building. Jean-Philippe Gimenez offered to provide a oakand launched the appeal throughout France. Movement very followed, but not welcomed by Emmanuel Macron regrets the councilor, this Friday, November 29, during his seventh and final visit to the construction site of the now renovated cathedraland before reopening to the public on December 8.
Gigantic outpouring of solidarity
April 15, 2019. Jean-Philippe Gimenez is in front of his TV, with his family, stunned and heartbroken in front of the collapsing spire, the bright red flames and the black smoke rising into the Paris sky. “While it was burning, I said to myself 'damn, we're from municipalities, foresters, we could all offer an oak tree!' So I put a message on this info with my wife and my son”he remembers. At precisely 9:01 p.m. he decides: “We had marked: I propose that all the forest municipalities which can offer one or more oaks to rebuild the framework of Notre-Dame de Paris. I am therefore the mayor of the first municipality to suggest that you come and choose one or more oaks on our forest massif so that our heritage is reborn from its ashes”, recites the city councilor. The post immediately had an effect. “There are towns in the mountains, in the Jura, which only have conifers so that I could offer them an oak, I have Swiss people who even wanted to buy me an oak”, he says.
“I’m not asking for anything, but…”
The frames and the spire have found their century-old oak forest: between 3,000 and 5,000 cubic meters of wood were taken according to the elected official. As far as he is concerned, the slaughter and collection cost 800 euros, “what is 800 euros for a municipality, compared to the thousands of euros that the framework would have cost the State?” explains Jean-Philippe Gimenez.
According to the national federation of forest communes, in Franche-Comté, 30 communes of Haute-Saône as well as Rougemont, in Doubs, provided at least one oak. That of Faymont was a gigantic century-old treewhose market value is exploding today.
What the mayor regrets today is the lack of attention to all the forest communities which have mobilized to contribute to the reconstruction of the framework. If Emmanuel Macron had a word this Friday for the 2,000 workers who renovated Notre-Dame, Jean-Philippe Gimenez feels forgotten: “I'm not asking for anything, but what I would have liked is for people to talk about those who offered oak trees, both forest communities and private estates, to thank us. A plaque with all the municipalities in alphabetical orderthat would have been nice”concludes the mayor.
