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Fire ravages refugee housing facility

A violent fire erupted at a refugee housing facility in central Sweden early Tuesday morning, forcing the evacuation of 80 residents and sending at least three people to hospital.

Published: 31 January 2012 08:28 CET
Fire ravages refugee housing facility

The facility is operated by the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) and is located at Gamla Nalles motel in Arboga in central Sweden.

The fire broke out in the facility’s restaurant.

Fire crews received a call about the fire around 3.40am, but by the time they arrived, the blaze had ravaged much of the building.

“The restaurant area is completely engulfed,” firefigher Conny Larsson told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Around 80 refugees housed at the facility have been evacuated. Three people were taken to hospital with smoke-related injuries, but it remains unclear how serious their injuries are.

By Tuesday morning, the fire had been brought under control and police are now waiting for the flames to be completely extinguished before launching a forensic investigation.

“It’s a pretty large, long building. The restaurant area was burned quite significantly,” Västmanland police spokesperson Terje Lund told the TT news agency.

The evacuees were taken to a parish house run in Arboga by the Church of Sweden where they were met by members of the municipality’s crisis group.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

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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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