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FIRE

Flights at Norwegian airport delayed as ‘hundreds’ of cars burn in fire

Flight traffic at Stavanger Airport in southwestern Norway was delayed on Tuesday after a fire caused the partial collapse of the airport’s car park.

Published: 8 January 2020 12:49 CET
Flights at Norwegian airport delayed as 'hundreds' of cars burn in fire
The Stavanger Aiport car park on fire overnight. Photo: AFP

Hundreds of cars are thought to have caught fire in the blaze, Stavanger Aftenblad reported. All flights at the airport were subsequently held.

The fire was initially reported at 3:33pm on Tuesday. The initial alert was a report of an electric car having caught fire, but police later confirmed to NRK that the fire started in a 2005 model diesel car.

Fire services worked until around midnight to bring the blaze under control after it engulfed the five-storey multi-level car park.

Flight traffic was scheduled to resume on Wednesday morning but some delays could still occur, according to airport operator Avinor.

Passengers are advised to check flight information via Avinor's website or with airlines..

Car park P1, where the fire began, can hold up to 3,000 cars and was almost full when the blaze started, according to police. Part of the structure has collapsed due to the fire.

Police operation leader Victor Frenne-Jensen said no injuries had been reported to police in connection with the fire.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg commented on the incident, having been in Stavanger to open the new Johan Sverdrup oil field at the time the fire broke out. The PM was delayed in returning to Oslo as a result.

“It’s going to be a road trip from Stavanger to Oslo,” Solberg tweeted.

She then asked “what’s the best fast food place” along the 550-kilometre journey.

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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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