– It’s absolutely terrible! That’s what Tanja Røskar, former town antiquarian in Kragerø, says. She reacted with despair when she saw that there was a fire in Kragerø on Saturday evening. – The fire is in the middle of the listed building. I had such a stomach ache and sat up all evening. The last phone call I had was at half past two last night. This could have been a real disaster, says Røskar. Former and last city antiquary in Kragerø, Tanja Røskar. She now works as a special adviser for cultural heritage and the cultural environment. Photo: Pål Tegnander / news But the fire is already very tragic. Storgata 7B, which had to be demolished during the shutdown, is marked red in SEFRAK. – This usually means that the building is from before 1850. Here it is marked in red because one was not sure of the year of construction when the building was registered, says the former city antiquarian. Both Storgata 7A and 9 were damaged in the fire. Storgata 7A is marked yellow in SEFRAK and probably from the last quarter of 1800. – In 1886 there was a town fire and after that a wall was imposed for a period. Storgata 7A is probably from after 1886 and before 1900, says Tanja Røskar. Fight all night The cause of the fire is still not known. It is still smoldering in the three houses in the middle of the densely built, listed buildings in the center of Kragerø. Fire crews from several fire stations in Telemark and Agder fought throughout the night to get control of the flames. At 07.20 on Sunday morning, the 70-80 firefighters on the scene finally got the fire under control. – The danger of a major urban fire is over, says incident leader Sondre Dahl to news. Sondre Dahl is the police’s task leader. Behind him the demolition is taking place. Photo: news – Vanskelig The fire alarm went off just after 8pm on Saturday. At the same time, the emergency calls started pouring in to the fire service. The fire started in a shop on Torvet in the center of Kragerø, before it spread to the 2nd and 3rd floors of the same building. The mayor and the emergency services inform about the fire in Kragerø. The fire eventually spread to three houses, and for a long time people feared a major fire in the town. Fire crews from both Kragerø, Bamble, Porsgrunn, Drangedal, Skien and Gjerstad have been working on site throughout the night. The Civil Defense has also assisted, including with water supply from the harbor basin in the city. Norwegian People’s Aid and the Red Cross also contribute in the field. The extinguishing has been difficult, according to fire chief Morten Meen Gallefoss, who met the press last night. Fire chief Morten Meen Gallefoss Photo: Leif Dalen / news – It is intense and difficult. The dense housing makes it difficult to control the fire, said the fire chief at a press briefing at the town hall at 01.30 last night. SMOKE AND BLUE LIGHTS: Three houses were on fire last night in the dense wooden housing complex in the center of Kragerø. All residents in the center have been evacuated. Photo: Leif Dalen / news In addition to extinguishing from the ground and from ladder trucks, the fire service has used smoke divers and a drone to look for flames. – It is difficult because it spreads from section to section. The fire gases move from cavity to cavity, he said at 2 o’clock last night. Looking for witnesses The police do not yet know the cause of the fire. They encourage witnesses who were nearby at the time the fire started to get in touch. – Concrete tips are interesting. We will also contact everyone who lives in nearby areas, says Terje Sandik, section leader in the Southeast police district to news on Sunday morning. The police will work on the investigation throughout the day, but the work is demanding, he says. – For now, we just have to wait until we have done some questioning and examined the parts of the building that are possible. Used excavator news’s reporter Veronica Westhrin is on the scene on Sunday morning. She says that excavators have destroyed parts of the building where it is assumed that the fire started on Saturday evening. The buildings directly affected are in ruins. – There is a haze of smoke over the whole city centre, she says. The cause of the fire is not yet known. The police confirmed this at a press conference on Sunday morning. Fear of a major fire Residents news spoke to on the night of Sunday said that they feared a major city fire. Fire crews from several neighboring towns participate in the extinguishing. Between 70 and 80 firefighters and smoke divers are in place. – Evacuees cannot count on being able to return home tonight, the municipality wrote on its website at 01:00. Large ladder trucks from the fire service have poured water down on the buildings that are on fire. They also watered the listed buildings around so that embers and ash from the fire do not get a hold. For a long time there was a great danger of spreading, Marianne Mørch, operations manager in the South-East police, told news just after midnight. news’s Veronica Westhrin says that the fire is “in the heart of the center of Kragerø”. An area where the buildings are close together. news’s reporter at the scene could see open flames from the roof of the building where the fire started at around 9.40pm. So far, no injuries have been reported. A zone with a radius of 500 meters has been blocked off in Kragerø. Photo: Leif Dalen / news Locked off All the houses in the quarter around where the fire started were quickly evacuated. Gradually, an increasingly large part of the city center was evacuated. People who were in restaurants and eateries were sent home, and the entire city center was blocked off. Now all houses in a radius of 500 meters have been evacuated. Outside the barricades and on the heights around the city centre, Kragerø residents and visitors stood and watched the extinguishing efforts throughout the night. If you have photos or video of the events in Kragerø – tip news here. Despair and uncertainty Over 50 people were evacuated from the central zone, according to the police in the Southeast. Photo: Veronica Westhrin / news The municipality has received help from volunteers in the Red Cross Aid Corps and Norwegian People’s Aid. 20 of the evacuees are accommodated at Kragerø Sportell where the municipality has set up an evacuation centre, says mayor Grunde Wegar Knudsen. The municipality’s psychosocial crisis team is present and takes care of those who are there, the municipality states on its website. The other evacuees have arranged for private shelter, according to Mayor Grunde Wegar Knudsen. Grunde Wegar Knudsen, mayor of Kragerø municipality. Photo: John-Andre Samuelsen / news – I spoke to some of the evacuees before they left the town hall. They are despondent, uncertain and frightened, says the mayor. The wind lied just before the fire started, which the mayor is happy about today. After all. No red-listed buildings were damaged. – We are happy that there was no greater damage than there has been. Fortunately, the wind died just before the fire started. If that had not happened, we could have had a completely different picture, he says on Sunday. The municipality’s crisis management can be contacted on telephone number 35 98 62 00. On the website, the municipality writes that it will publish new information at 8.30 Sunday morning. – Very scary Resident Marit Hestangen lives near the city centre. – I was told that I didn’t have to go to bed for a while, says Hestangen, about what she was told at the town hall. She remembers the big fire in Kragerø in 2009, where two people died. – I think it’s quite scary to live in such a densely built-up area with only wooden houses. Simply very scary. Then I think that with flames, we have to be very careful with that, says Hestangen. The fire service is working in narrow city streets to prevent the fire from developing further. Photo: Veronica Westhrin / news Here you can see a map of the listed buildings in Kragerø. Map of area with listed buildings. Screenshot from Askeladden, the National Antiquities’ map of protected buildings. Photo: Ashkeladden
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Listed houses from the 19th century were lost – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
