Firefighters are working hard to put out a fire in an old apartment building in Storkata in the center of Borskroon.
The fire broke out on the upper two floors of the building and in the roof structure. Fierce flames from the top two floors light up the night sky. There is a lot of smoke and sparks in the air.
The fire brigade has no control. They are currently trying to prevent the fire from spreading down the building.
– It’s a long process for the fire service, so they continue late into the night, says Tommy Erickson, after midnight operations manager for the Southeast Police District.
– No control
A fire alarm was raised at 9.55pm and all emergency services rushed to Storgata 115.
Fire crews from both Porsgrunn, Skien and Larvik are working on site to extinguish the blaze, which led to a full call-out on Thursday evening.
The fire was not easily brought under control. Smoke and fire spread throughout the evening and night.
Terje Lunden, the chief of police at the scene, says it’s out of control. But he downplays the risk of contagion, saying firefighters are “reasonably well under control” and that there is no risk of contagion to other buildings in the city centre.
There were no signs of people being in the building when the fire broke out.
– There are no registered residents at the address. Lunton says we talked to people who came here recently.
Rest recovery
The lower floors of the building house several shops and a skincare salon.
The operations manager said that after midnight, employees arrived at the scene of the fire and were working to secure valuables.
– This should be confirmed Values on the lower floors of the building, if the fire spreads further.
Heavy smoke is coming from the roof of a building in Storkata, Porskrun.
Photo: Richard Aoun / NRK
Noxious fumes
The dairy farm on fire is known as one of the prides of the city. The building was built between 1899 and 1901.
Police have asked city residents to close their windows and stay indoors due to the toxic fumes.
– Residents of the city center are advised to stay inside, close their windows and avoid moving around the area, says the South East Police District Chief of Staff.
Smoke is coming from large areas of the attic in the building at Storkata in Porskrun.
Photo: Richard Aoun / NRK
Evacuation of city center residents continues to be assessed, but Lunton says it is not applicable now.
The police who were present at the scene talked to the witnesses and kept people and cars away.
– This is regrettable
The building houses, among others, the Porsgrunn Frivilligsentral and Linda’s skin care salon.
Helge Tverdahl has created a unique set of Halloween effects at Ravenloftet in Meergiarden.
The entertainment club “Ravenlofted” is classified as Norway’s scariest haunted house and is located on the top floor of the now burning building.
Police said an incident took place at the club premises on Thursday evening.
There, Helge Tverdal has created a unique set of Halloween effects. Tverdal was in the room an hour before the fire.
– I was the last one to leave today. He says there were no signs of anything wrong then.
Helge Halloweenman fears that everything he has worked for in Tverdal Ravenloftet is lost.
Photo: Richard Aoun / NRK
– This is regrettable. 60-70 volunteers are involved in building it. Thousands of volunteer hours have gone into building it.
He thinks he has lost everything.
– Smoke is the worst.
The campus was reportedly locked down after 9pm on Thursday.
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