Work to secure the church continues, almost two weeks after the fire

After the fire that ravaged the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, work to secure the building continues. In the future, a large umbrella will be installed above the church to protect it from bad weather.

Work to secure the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) continues, almost two weeks after the arson attack that ravaged the religious building on September 2.

Significant resources were deployed to save the building, not without some difficulties. As the church was landlocked, it was impossible for the workers to access the back and sides of the building. They deployed a 70-metre crane on the church forecourt to remove the remaining pieces of roof structure and debris that were in danger of collapsing.

Another point of vigilance: the front facade was also at risk of collapsing. A huge ballasted scaffolding was urgently built to stabilize the structure.

These security works should be completed by the middle of next week. The 11 evacuated and relocated residents, who had still not been able to return to their homes, should be able to return home next Wednesday or Thursday, according to the mayor, once the most urgent security operations have been carried out.

A large umbrella above the church

Then the last rubble will be cleared away and an umbrella will be built over the church to protect it from bad weather in the future.

“We want to be able to protect the Immaculate Conception church in the long term by building a protection in the form of a large umbrella above the church. It’s a race against time, with the goal of being able to set up this protection for the Christmas holidays,” explained François Decoster, mayor of Saint-Omer, on BFM Grand Littoral. In the coming years, the town hall wants to rebuild the building identically.

Many initiatives are being set up to help the city with this colossal project. The Heritage Foundation’s kitty has already collected 80,000 euros from 900 entries. A hiking trail will be set up and the boat builders of Saint-Omer will also raise money with their bacove outings.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, located in a suburb of Saint-Omer, was devastated by the fire at the beginning of the month. This neo-Gothic church, inaugurated in 1859, had been restored between 2014 and 2018.

The fire destroyed the bell tower, which collapsed, as well as almost all of the roofs and the 19th-century Merklin organ inside.