Copenhagen's mayor hopes to learn from Notre Dame reconstruction after historic building fire

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Copenhagen's mayor said Thursday she contacted her Paris counterpart to see what could be learned from the reconstruction of the Notre Dame cathedral in the French capital, after a fire devastated the Danish city's 400-year-old stock exchange building.

Firefighters were still at the scene two days after a blaze destroyed half of Copenhagen's Old Stock Exchange, which dates from 1615, and collapsed its iconic dragon-tail spire.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce, which was headquartered in the Old Stock Exchange and owns the building, has said they want the building to be reconstructed. However, no decision has yet been made about who will finance a reconstruction, a project that would cost millions, if not billions of kroner (dollars) and take years.

Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, the Danish capital’s mayor, told The Associated Press that she had been in touch with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to discuss how the French handled the reconstruction of the Notre Dame cathedral after an April 2019 blaze ravaged the 800-year-old landmark. Its restoration is slated for completion this year.

Hidalgo gave “some good inputs on how to move quickly, how Paris handled donations and the restoration which must be done fast," Hæstorp Andersen said.

“We stand before a huge task when it comes to rebuilding Boersen together with the Danish Chamber of Commerce ... but we know this can be done quickly,” she said, using the stock exchange building's Danish name.

She added that Hidalgo has invited a Danish team to meet those behind the rebuilding of Notre Dame’s spire.

Tuesday's blaze was believed to have started on the roof during renovations, but the cause remained unclear and police had yet to enter the burned part of the building to investigate.

Work continued Thursday to stabilize the building, with the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department saying they expect to be working at the scene of the fire for at least another day.

“The walls are very unstable,” firefighter spokesman Tom Ole Simonsen said. Containers filled with concrete have been erected around the Old Stock Exchange to support it.

The copper roof had collapsed inside the shell of external walls and on Friday, they will try to remove the burned parts from inside the building with a huge crane, Simonsen said.

Although firefighters used “millions” of liters (gallons) of water, “it still smolders and glows inside,” Simonsen said. He added that the highest alarm was sounded Tuesday six minutes after the fire department was alerted.

Several streets around the charred building, including a main road running past it, will remained closed until Monday at least, Simonsen said.

When the fire engulfed the building on Tuesday, passers-by, Chamber of Commerce staff, police officers and firefighters raced inside the building to save its treasures. Many of the building’s most valuable contents, which included irreplaceable paintings and other works of art, had been saved. Among them was the huge 1895 painting “From Copenhagen Stock Exchange” by Danish artist P.S. Krøyer, the Chamber of Commerce said.

The exchange, known for its green copper roof and distinctive 56-meter (184-foot) spire in the shape of four intertwined dragon tails, sits on the waterfront next to the Danish parliament.

The building is considered a leading example of the Dutch Renaissance architectural style in Denmark. The Chamber of Commerce moved into the building after Copenhagen’s stock exchange left in 1974.

This story corrects the spelling of French mayor’s last name to Hidalgo instead of Hildago throughout.

Danish Business' CEO Brian Mikkelsen holds the top of the burnt dragon spire in front of Boersen, The Stock Exchange building in Copenhagen Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix)

Danish Business' CEO Brian Mikkelsen holds the top of the burnt dragon spire in front of Boersen, The Stock Exchange building in Copenhagen Wednesday, April 17, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix)

Historical paintings are carried out of the burning building as the Stock Exchange burns in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Firefighters work on the building after a fire broke out at the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The fire was reported Tuesday morning in the historic building, which was undergoing renovation. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix)

Firefighters work at the scene as smoke rises from the Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A fire raged through one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings on Tuesday, causing the collapse of the iconic spire of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange as passersby rushed to help emergency services save priceless paintings and other valuables. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Firefighters walk out of the main entrance as the Old Stock Exchange burns in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The roof of the 17th-century old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

FILE - A view of the Old Stock Exchange in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan. 28, 2019. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The roof of the 17th-century old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Linda Kastrup/Ritzau Scanpix, file via AP)

Fire and smoke rise out of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The copper roof of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Fire and smoke rise out of the Old Stock Exchange, Boersen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. One of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings is on fire and its iconic spire has collapsed. The copper roof of the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange, or Boersen, that was once Denmark’s financial center, was engulfed in flames Tuesday. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Democratic state Sen. Timothy Kennedy won a special election Tuesday for the New York congressional seat vacated by Democrat Brian Higgins.

Kennedy defeated Republican Gary Dickson for the upstate New York seat, helped by a 2-to-1 Democratic registration advantage in the district, which includes Buffalo, Niagara Falls and several suburbs.

Kennedy has been in the state Senate since 2011. Describing Washington as “chaotic and dysfunctional,” he said he would focus in Congress on reproductive rights, immigration and stronger gun laws like those passed in New York after a 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket.

“New York has been a bulwark against Donald Trump’s extremist MAGA agenda that has infected our politics and our nation’s capital,” he said during the campaign. “The MAGA extremists have made the House of Representatives a laughingstock.”

Registration wasn’t Kennedy’s only advantage. The Democrat raised $1.7 million as of April 10, compared with Dickson’s $35,430 total, according to campaign finance reports. Kennedy spent just over $1 million in the off-season election, compared with $21,000 for Dickson as the candidates worked to remind voters to go to the polls.

Kennedy will serve in Congress for the rest of the year. He is on the ballot, along with Republican attorney Anthony Marecki, for the general election. On Tuesday, former town supervisor Nate McMurray, who planned to challenge Kennedy in a Democratic primary in June, said in a social media post that elections officials had removed him from the ballot because of insufficient signatures.

Earlier this year, the GOP’s slim House majority was narrowed in a closely contested Long Island-area special election that followed New York Republican George Santos’ expulsion from Congress. That race, won by Democrat Tom Suozzi, was viewed as a test of the parties’ general election strategies on immigration and abortion.

Dickson, a retired FBI special agent, acknowledged the challenges of running in the upstate district when he announced his candidacy at the end of February, saying he was in the race to give voters a choice. He said he supports Trump as the Republican nominee for president, while describing his own politics as “more towards the center.”

Voting took place with Trump on trial in New York City in the first criminal trial of a former American president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

FILE - Sen. Timothy Kennedy, D-Buffalo, left, speaks in the Senate Chamber of the state Capitol, Feb. 6, 2017, in Albany, N.Y. In a special election Tuesday, April 30, voters in upstate New York's 26th Congressional District will choose between Kennedy, a Democrat, and Gary Dickson, the first Republican elected as a town supervisor in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca in 50 years. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

FILE - West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson, who is on the Republican ticket for the 26th Congressional District special election, speaks while on his campaign trail, April 25, 2024, in Buffalo, N.Y. In a special election, Tuesday, April 30, voters in upstate New York's 26th Congressional District will choose between state Sen. Timothy Kennedy, a Democrat, and Dickson, the first Republican elected as a town supervisor in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca in 50 years. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)