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FIRE

Police detain four over cow-killing blaze

Police have detained four people in connection with a fire that killed 70 cows in the barn of an agricultural high school about 50 kilometres south of Stockholm.

Published: 17 April 2013 12:05 CEST
Police detain four over cow-killing blaze

The blaze took place in late March at the Naturbruksgymnasium high school in Ytterjärna, where a giant barn burnt to the ground taking the lives of the cattle. No person was injured in the incident.

The suspects are aged between 20 and 50. Local police believe there is a connection between the fire and several other fires in the area.

“The way it looks now, there are about four to five fires, but we think that there are more in Sörmland and Södertälje. I don’t want to go into details about which fires they are. But we think the number will grow,” Anders Göransson of the local police told Sveriges Radio (SR).

Police refused to go into details about the motives of the suspected arsonists.

“It’s clear that we have come to conclusions on this front, but I don’t want to go into it now. The investigation is confidential.”

The agricultural high school where the barn was burned is owned by the Nibble Foundation (Nibblestiftelsen), which focuses on biodynamic milk production.

Ytterjärna and its environs are home to many agricultural and educational establishments inspired by the anthroposophic movement.

TT/The Local/og

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FIRE

Why have there been so many fires in Copenhagen this year?

Thursday’s fire at Denmark’s tax ministry follows a blaze at the historic Old Stock Exchange and several fires at the headquarters of pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

Published: 27 June 2024 15:11 CEST
Why have there been so many fires in Copenhagen this year?

A fire broke out on Thursday morning on the roof of the building which houses Denmark’s Tax Ministry in central Copenhagen, which fire services in the capital were able to put out shortly afterwards.

The Tax Ministry fire is at least the fifth high-profile blaze in and around Copenhagen since April, following three at different buildings owned by pharma giant Novo Nordisk and the devastating fire which turned parts of the historic Old Stock Exchange (Børsen) to rubble.

The high number of fires occurring within a relatively short period appears to be down to no more than chance, Jens Kastvig, an expert with the Danish Society of Engineers said to newswire Ritzau.

“There’s always a risk that a fire can break out in a building,” Kastvig said, noting that the average annual fire rate is around one per 100,000 to 150,000 square metre of building.

“That could be anything from a smaller to a larger fire,” he said.

Kastvig said that he initially guessed the Tax Ministry fire was the result of renovation work.

Both Børsen and the Novo Nordisk buldings were also undergoing renovations at the time of their fires. This increases the risk of fire breaking out in a more flammable material such as bitumen waterproofing, or a fire otherwise related to the ongoing work.

No renovations were ongoing at the Tax Ministry however, the building’s owner ATP Ejendomme has confirmed.

“The fire services are busy at the moment. But I hope it’s a coincidence,” Kastvig said.

Tim Ole Sørensen of the Copenhagen Fire Service, Hovedstadens Beredskab, said on Thursday that there was no suggestion that the fires were related.

“There’s nothing that indicates any form of connection at all to us, and we are talking about very different businesses and types of building,” he said.

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