I woke at five this morning and heard distant popping noises. Something wasn’t right, and my first reaction was that maybe something had gone wrong with the Webasto petrol heater I’d just finished installing in the Dyane. When I looked out of the bedroom window I saw a glow in the sky above us, so it wasn’t the Dyane. My next thought was that it was a car on fire on the other side of the flats just up from our house.
However, it turned out to be a house fire on Tronderudvegen much further up the hill. Fortuately, the residents were woken by a fire alarm (a good reason to make sure you have them in your home and that you check regularly that they are working) and did not suffer any serious injury. Sadly there is nothing left of the house nor their belongings. The police and fire services are investigating the cause of the fire.
For me, it was quite scary to see how quickly a modern wooden house can burn to the ground. Until we moved to Norway I’ve lived in brick and concrete houses, which I think are a bit more fire resistant (even if they are not).
More on the story at the Hallingdølen website. (Update 20140309 subscribers only now)
Here are some pictures taken by me from Briskevegen this morning, in chronological order:
Poor people! How do you recover from that?
When I was in Svolvær at the end of August, my visit coincided with a fire in a workshop in the town centre which quickly spread to several adjacent wooden buildings, including the "Needle and Thread" shop I've visited several times – three businesses and the flats above went up in flames within an hour of the initial fire breaking out. The fire brigade were dousing everything with sea water pumped from the harbour within a short time, but none of the buildings could be salvaged – it left a big hole in the old wooden part of the town. By the time I left in the evening, the diggers had been in to scoop the remains up into a dump truck, and there was just a large empty cordoned-off lot just off the town square, after a hundred years plus of trading – a sobering experience to witness.
How awful. Poor people. I thought it was bad to be burgled, but to lose everything… I guess it forces you to prioritise that which matters – those you love – because if you don't, you go under. Much love and stay safe. xxxxx