Two buildings caught fire in the center of Hemsdale Alpine. Firefighters fought for a long time to put out the blaze, but they say the danger was over by Thursday night.
The blaze began at around 4pm on Wednesday in a building at the Sky Resort in Hemstell.
The apartment building under construction caught fire. The fire spread to a nearby apartment building.
There is extensive damage to both campuses. The task of shutting down for a long time took place.
– Arilt Alfheim, operations manager for the Southeastern Police District, told Viji just before 10pm that there was no reason to believe it would spread further now.
At about 00:10, police reported the fire to the NTB.
– Firefighters have contained the blaze, but the task of extinguishing it will continue until morning, Operations Manager in the Southeastern Police District, Dore Grindam, told NTB shortly after midnight.
Martin Slavigen, duty manager at 110 Exchange Southeast, confirmed that the fire was no longer in danger and that the fire had been stopped from moving outside.
Requesting firefighting work
Everyone in the neighboring building has been taken into account, and no one working on the building was reported missing during construction, says operations manager Alfheim.
Alfheim says it’s a big building and it’s a time consuming job. Earlier, 110 said the exchange was demanding firefighting work.
– There is a lot of burning energy and it is difficult to get control. Work is often done by outdoor shutdowns, Slevigen said at 19.45 on Wednesday night.
Also, the wind in the area caused difficulties in extinguishing the fire.
Powerful flames
In turn there were plenty of crews. According to the 110 transfer, a total of 13 vehicles from the fire service contributed to the scene.
The fire service received assistance from the fire service in Lærdal and Årdal.
Residents in the area were asked to close the windows as some smoke came from the scene.
Police say traffic was directed at the site to prevent more people from entering the burned area.
The site’s videos show powerful flames and numerous black smoke billowing from a building located in the Sky Lift area of the Alpine Center in Hemstell.
Ida Tue, director of marketing at Solon Eiendom, confirms that one of their buildings under construction in the Stokstad Fjellandsbyen Hemsedal project has been affected.
– We do not know anything yet and can not comment on the cause, effect or anything else, says Stokstad.
Police write in an update that residents in the area are being asked to close their windows as there is little smoke from the area.
Has set up crisis staff
The evictees are being maintained by the municipality. Hemsedal Mayor Pål Terje Rørby confirms to VG that the municipality has set up crisis staff.
– We have gathered crisis management to get an overview of the situation, regardless of which agencies are at risk of growth and spread, says Rorby.
He says there is great evidence to keep visitors at a safe distance and to protect nearby buildings.
– Do you know anything about the extent of the damage?
– So far we have not received any reports of personal injuries, only material injuries. But we follow the situation very closely because it is still at risk of spreading.
– Do you know how the fire started?
– No, but there must have been construction workers in a building, so we assume that the building caught fire.
Witness: – It happened very quickly
Police say it is not too late to say anything about the cause of the fire.
A witness at the scene, Håvard Røkland, told VG that the fire appeared to have occurred very quickly.
– We went from one end of the parking lot to the other and crossed the building. When we got to the other side, the whole building was on fire. It happened so quickly, Rockland says.
According to Rockland, emergency services were quickly set up to deal with the fire.
– I can still see it smoking in the cabin, but it doesn’t seem to be fully ignited anymore.
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