BEIJING, April 16 -- The fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris Monday has rung an alarm for strengthening the security of cultural relics, said an official with the National Cultural Heritage Administration (SACH) of China Tuesday.

"The fire proved that efforts in this regard must run through the whole process of cultural relics protection, inlcuding our routine work, renovation and personnel security of the units under protection, to ensure nothing goes wrong," Song Xinchao, deputy head of the administration, told Xinhua.

The SACH released a circular on Tuesday night, listing six fire accidents involving cultural relics so far this year in China.

Fire protection must be strengthened and related assessments must be carried out for the protection of cultural relics, with old and outworn equipment to be replaced or updated, according to the circular.

It also made a number of other calls towards local departments and units on fire protection related to cultural relics, including eliminating hidden dangers of fire, carrying out fire security checks, reporting and handling fire accidents.