A fire in a warehouse complex in Tønsberg continued to burn out of control Thursday evening, sending off huge volcano-like flumes of smoke and ash and forcing evacuations in a nearby residential area. Two people were sent to hospital for smoke inhalation.
The fire blazed all afternoon and firefighters expected to be battling it all night and into Friday. By Thursday evening “it was beginning to calm down, and we’re beginning to gain control over the office portion of the complex. The warehouse portion is completely destroyed,” Per Olav Pettersen of the Vestfold fire department told state broadcaster NRK.
Two men, aged 60 and 45, were sent to hospital for smoke inhalation. A local neighbourhood was evacuated and thousands of other nearby residents were told to remain indoors and close all windows and doors because of the thick smoke from burning plastic.
The warehouse and office complex housed around 70 different companies and 450 private storage rooms. Some of them contained propane tanks that caused several small explosions. “It’s a very demanding fire,” Pettersen said, but stressed there’d been no loss of life.
newsinenglish.no staff
