Beekeeper Nicolas Geant kept three hives on the roof of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
Unknown to even many Parisians, three hives of bees were living on the roof of Notre Dame. Even more surprising, despite the inferno that caused such devastating damage to the famous Cathedral, the bees remain alive and well, having survived the inferno that burned Notre Dame in March 2019.
The beekeeper confirmed (as reported on CNN):
“I got a call from Andre Finot, the spokesman for Notre Dame, who said there were bees flying in and out of the hives which means they are still alive! Right after the fire I looked at the drone pictures and saw the hives weren’t burnt but there was no way of knowing if the bees had survived. Now I know there’s activity it’s a huge relief!”
Notre Dame has housed three beehives on the roof over the sacristy, just beneath the rose window, since 2013. Each hive has about 60,000 bees. The beekeeper said the hives were not touched by the blaze because they are located about 100 feet below the main roof where the fire spread.
While it is likely that the hives filled with smoke during the fire, as we beekeepers know, that doesn’t affect the bees as it does us humans because bees don’t have lungs. We regularly smoke our bees when we open our hives to inspect them and that merely calms the bees down, and may interrupt their communication with one another or affect their choice to keep honey in their bodies momentarily. But the smoke does not harm them provided there is no fire and not too much heat.
If the temperature had gotten hot enough to melt the wax combs inside the hive, the bees would have become stuck together and would have all perished. However, because heat rises, and the hives were below the actual fire, the bees survived.
As the Notre Dame beekeeper said, “They weren’t in the middle of the fire, had they been they wouldn’t have survived. The hives are made of wood so they would have gone up in flames. “
“Bees don’t have lungs like us. And secondly, for centuries to work with the bees we have used bee smokers. A bee smoker is a box with bellows which creates a white, thick cold smoke in the hives, prompting the bees to calmly gorge on the honey while beekeepers do their work”
