Fire in the center of Oslo – open flames and lots of smoke. The police block off Grensen.

Heavy black smoke billowed from the roof of Grensen no. 17 in central Oslo at around 6pm.

There were open flames on the roof, and massive smoke from the place. Residents and others in the area were asked to remove the smoke, close windows and turn off ventilation systems.

Just after 7 p.m., police incident leader Anders Rønning reports at the scene that the fire service has the fire under control. The extinguishing work is still ongoing, but they cannot say how long it will take to extinguish completely.
The cause of the fire is unknown, according to Rønning.

– Just after 6pm we received a report of black smoke coming from the roof in Grensen 17. On arrival at the scene, there were flames rising from the roof and it was fully engulfed from the roof upwards, says Rønning.
He says that they worked on getting the fire brigade’s height equipment up and that it took some time.

There are no registered residents at the address. The building is probably only used as commercial property, the police say.

The fire brigade climbed onto the roof to extinguish the fire. They tried with a ladder truck from both the west and east sides. In the end, they stood on the roof itself and extinguished it with a hose, Aftenposten’s reporter on a nearby roof could report.

Just after 18.30, white smoke came from the fire scene, as a clear sign that the extinguishing had started.

At 18.45 it appeared that the fire brigade had gained the upper hand over the flames. It triggered spontaneous cheers from the many hundreds of people who had gathered in the city center streets to watch what happened.

A large number of vehicles from all emergency services were on the scene. A large area in the center of Oslo was cordoned off.
The fire service is working to take down the tram’s catenary.

Photo: Torkjell Trædal

Photo: Vilde Skorpen Wikan

It burned heavily at 18:00 on Sunday.

The fire brigade arrived with a crane.

Firefighters started extinguishing from the crane truck and from the roof itself.

At 18.45 it appears that the fire is decreasing in intensity.

Working with evacuation

The cause of the fire is currently unclear, the police reported at 6.30pm. The police have not received information on whether people have been injured.

– Work is underway to evacuate people in the building and adjacent buildings. Wide barriers will be set up in the area, and around the quarter. People and vehicles are asked to stay away from the response area of the emergency services, said Alexander Østerhaug, operations manager at the Oslo police district.