For the second time in a few days, the scooter company Ryde’s premises in Nygårdsgaten burned down on Sunday night.
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The fire was reported to the police at 01.46 on Sunday night. Open flames were reported on the spot and the fire brigade sent in smoke divers.
The police inform BT on the spot that they have established a safety zone of 50 meters around the fire site. Large amounts of lithium batteries are stored on site.
The police report on Twitter that there is a fire and smoke development in about 30 batteries. Some batteries have been removed from the premises, the 110 exchange informs on Twitter.
Fire evacuated
The police task leader Rune Vedeler says at 02.45 that the fire service is in control of the situation, but that the extinguishing work is still ongoing.
– The fire service does not expect any deterioration. Experience has shown that battery fires take a long time to go out. The fire service is fighting the fire inside Ryde’s premises, at the same time as they are venting smoke in the building, says Vedeler.
There are apartments and dormitories on the top three floors of the five-storey building. 19 people are registered in the house. No injuries were reported after the fire.
Four people got out of the house on their own. The fire brigade knocked on doors and windows in the other apartments, without response, but did not consider the smoke to be so dangerous that they would break in. Later that night, the homeowner also came to the site, so that the fire brigade could open doors and search the rest of the homes in the house.
–At 03 o’clock, the fire brigade uses a ladder car with a lift to knock on windows upstairs.
Neighbors are asked to keep windows closed while the smoke is vented out of the building.
–Second fire in a few days
On Thursday 22 December, it burned in the same premises. At that time, two lithium batteries burned.
According to the fire service’s operations manager during the fire on Thursday, John Magnus Birkeland, such batteries are a growing concern for the fire service.
– There are huge amounts of energy in lithium batteries and a high risk of things going wrong. We have had several incidents where it has burned because of it, he said then.
–Concerned neighbor
After the fire on Thursday, several neighbors said they had feared a battery fire on the premises. Night to Sunday, neighbor Erik Brudvik wonders how the municipality will now follow up the operation.
After the fire last Wednesday, there was rapid operation again. I think that’s nice,
– I do not doubt that Ryde has routines, but we get time and time again confirmed how flammable these batteries are, he says.
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