According to the duty officer at the police operations center, Sidsel Svarstad, the report of a fire came from a seat with a barn and a cabin on Snultra in Åstdalen in Øyer. Setra is located right on the border between Ringsaker, Stor-Elvdal, Øyer and Lillehammer. A smoldering fire had been discovered in the floor of the barn where six people are said to have stayed. There should be no talk of injuries.
Not winter plowed road
– There were six people present there. As I understand it, they were in the barn. They discovered that it was smoldering under the floor. The barn was overheated when the fire crews came in, Svarstad states.
Fire and rescue crews had to use snowmobiles to get to the place, which has no winter-plowed road. Norwegian People’s Aid, the Red Cross and a police helicopter are involved in the emergency. Fire crews from both Ringsaker and Lillehammer moved out.
– We get good help from Norwegian People’s Aid and the Red Cross and have taken us into Åstdalen from Brumunddal and into Øvre Åstbrua. Setra is located four kilometers directly north of Øvre Åstbrua, at the southern end of the border in Øyer.
The fire department spent an hour
According to Svarstad, it took just over an hour before the fire brigade was in place, at 04.40. Then the barn must have been completely overheated.
Svarstad says that none of the six have been taken to the emergency room, but that it is possible that some of them may have inhaled smoke. She also does not know if it is the owners of the farm itself, or visitors who were at the site when the fire was discovered.
There should be no danger of the fire spreading to surrounding buildings. The fire crews ensure a controlled burning of the barn.
