Control of the fire in Ålesund – NRK Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
At around 00:30 at night, the emergency manager on the scene states that it may look like they are starting to get the fire under control.
– The status now is that the fire service has managed to control the fire as they wanted, says emergency manager Eva Welle.
She adds that the direction of the wind in the area will help determine how the fire will develop.
Shortly afterwards, the Police in Møre and Romsdal informs on Twitter that the evacuees are allowed to return to their houses.
Directs the fire towards the sea
The fire brigade at the site say they are working to control the fire down towards the sea.
– It is very dry in the area here, and there is a lot of vegetation, says incident leader Brann Vidar Bakke.
A drone was used to get an overview of the fire.
– In the initial phase, there was a fire around 60-70 meters away from the nearest houses. It was a bit uncritical, says Bakke.
The heather fire in Skarbøvika in Ålesund was reported to the emergency services at 10.56pm on Saturday evening.
– It burned quite well in the terrain. We are considering evacuating more people if there is a need for it, said the police’s operational manager Eivind Klokkersund at Møre og Romsdal police district at midnight.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but according to the police, witnesses have observed fireworks in the area earlier in the day, write Sunnmørsposten.
– We do not know what caused the fire. We will question witnesses and investigate this further, task leader Eva Welle tells NRK.
No injuries have been reported.
The police urge residents in the immediate area to keep doors and windows closed, and to switch off ventilation systems that are not required to be on.
There is a yellow warning due to the risk of forest fire in the area.
More fires on Saturday
This is the second large heather fire reported on Saturday. The fire service has through much of the day powered extinguishing in Roan in Trøndelag.
– The fire is under control as the fire is now, but everything depends on not turning around and becoming more powerful, says police operations manager Anne Birgitte Arras at 10.17pm on Saturday.
The fire service is now using a heat-seeking drone in efforts to extinguish several small fires in the terrain.