Photo taken on Jan. 4, 2019 shows a view of the Cologne Cathedral (L) and Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne, Germany. Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 and was eventually completed in 1880. The total area of the Cathedral measures almost 8,000 square meters and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)
More than 30 fire engines with 160 firefighters were sent out to find that a cloud had got caught in the north tower of the Cologne Cathedral in such a way that "it looked like smoke from below."
BERLIN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A large-scale fire brigade operation took place at Cologne Cathedral in Germany on Thursday early morning after a low hanging cloud in one of the towers was mistakenly reported as smoke.
A guest of a hotel near the cathedral had called fire fighters at about 1:10 a.m. local time, reporting that smoke had appeared at the cathedral, according to the German newspaper Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger.
More than 30 fire engines with 160 firefighters were sent out to find that a cloud had got caught in the north tower of the cathedral in such a way that "it looked like smoke from below", a spokesperson of the fire department confirmed to Xinhua.
Cologne's fire brigades were regularly practicing emergencies at the cathedral so that the "fire services get to know the site" and know their way around the famous building, according to the fire department.■
