Heavy fire at Norsk Gjenvinning in Oslo

Fire at Norsk Gjennvinning. Photo: Poppe, Cornelius, NTB Sacnapix

Building ablaze at Norsk Gjenvinning in Oslo

It burns at the facility of Norsk Gjenvinning (Norwegian Recycling) in Haraldrudveien in the district of Alna in Oslo. Black smoke from the fire in the plant is visible in large tracts of Oslo.

 

The police reported about the fire just before 10 am on Thursday. No injury to persons has been reported, but the building that burns may well collapse.

– A building is ablaze at Norsk Gjenvinning, with a large amounts of open flames and black smoke emitting. We fear that the building may collapse and the fire department is working hard on extinguishing the fire. The smoke also moves in the direction of the nearby railroad track, but the trains run as usual at the moment, the police reports.

The police urges the residents in the area to close their windows and doors. The roads in the area will be cordoned of during the extinguishing of the fire.

The fire department in Oslo states that they are being assisted in the extinguishment of the fire by fire departments in neighbouring municipalities.

Updated information on the fire at Norsk Gjenvinning

It is burning heavily at Norsk Gjenvinning (Norwegian Recycling) at Alna in Oslo. The building is about to collapse, and the police are in the process of evacuating buildings in the area.

The police have initiated evacuation of nearby buildings as the black smoke has begun to seep into the buildings. A lot of black smoke makes the work difficult.

– We are continuously working on assessing which buildings must be evacuated. So far it is talk of a bakery and a few addresses in the Persveien, where there are some people working who are evacuated, says Operations Manager in the Oslo police district, Tor Jøkling, to VG.

Jøgling encourages people who are bothered by the smoke to leave the area on their own initiative.

The police were notified of the fire at 09:40 am.

The notice was about fire in paper, but as long as the smoke is so dense and dark, we can not rule out that there are other things burning as well, says Jøkling.

The police ask people in the nearby area to close doors and windows, and heed messages from the police.

– As long as the smoke stays this extensive and dark, we do not want anyone to be exposed to it, says Jøkling.

No reports of missing or injured

15 of the fire department’s trucks, and 34 crews are handling the fire. The building has started to collapse.

– We have shut the facility down and inform internally. We are in close dialogue with Norsk Gjenvinning, follow the situation and await developments, says Communications Director in Oslo Renovation, Kjersti Kristoffersen, to VG.

Several roads cordoned off

The fire is in an industrial area, and the police have begun to cordon off access roads. The smoke also seeps toward the railroad track, but according to the police, the trains run as usual.

– Haraldrudveien – Brobekkveien is cordoned off already and we will be cordoning off a large area, says Jøkling.

At 10:24 am, the police reports on Twitter that Persveien leading off from Ring 3, Persveien – Brobekkveien and Haraldrudveien – Alf Bjerckes road is cordoned off.

 

© VG / NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today