Fire at a car park on the Vestkanten: – I’ve lost count

Around 50 of the 80 cars that had to be towed after the fire on the West Coast were taken out in the 20s.

On Monday morning, a fire broke out in a car in the car park at the Vestkanten shopping center in Loddefjord. Nine hours later, there is still full activity in the part of the plant where the fire was.

The owners of the 80 cars parked there were told that their cars must not be started. Instead, they had to contact their insurance companies, who would organize the towing and shipping of the cars to places where they could be cleaned.

“Don’t start the car”

“Don’t start your car, it could be destroyed!!” it was written on notes that were posted on the cars.

– The cars left there have, to a greater or lesser extent, been in a rather smoky environment. They must be collected by tow trucks and cleaned. Each individual car owner must order towing themselves via their insurance company, police operations manager Tore-André Brakstad told BT.

When BT was on site at 8pm on Monday evening, both tow trucks and a car transport drove away with cars from the parking facility. There were still around 30 cars left inside the facility.

– Have lost count

– All our cars are out and running, and we take the cars out continuously, says Viking driver Endre Jensen.

He does not know how many tow trucks have taken part in the operation, or how many cars they have taken out.

– But there is a lot. I’ve lost count, he says.

Due to the low ceiling height, smaller tow trucks have to be sent downstairs, which then pull the cars up to the driveway, where they can be loaded onto the tow trucks.

Crews from Bergen Bilhjelp also worked when BT was on site.

Soot can smell like fire

Arne Voll, communications manager at Gjensidige, says that the main reason why one should not start the car after being near a fire is the danger of soot particles being drawn into the air conditioning.

– Then it can quickly settle in the car, and it will smell like fire for a long time. Therefore, it makes sense to get it off to a workshop, before further damage occurs. They can clean the car and the particle filter, he says.

Voll does not know how many of the cars are insured in Gjensidige, but says that the company has around 25 per cent market share.

– I would like to believe that it is reflected here. We have received a number of inquiries from customers, he says.

– Hardly more than two days

Press manager Ole Irgens in Tryg also says that the cars should be cleaned before use.

– We have collected around ten cars that are insured with us. They have been towed to a car cleaning company, he says.

– When can customers get their cars back?

– I will be surprised if it takes more than a couple of days. But since this goes on the comprehensive insurance, everyone will get a rental car in the meantime.

– Not near the Sola fire

Both Voll and Irgens are happy that things seem to have gone so well on the West Coast. They both remember the fire in the car park in Sola in 2020, where several hundred cars were destroyed.

– I think this will go very well. There are relatively limited injuries, says Voll, who praises the efforts of the fire brigade.

Irgens says that their people who have been on the scene report that many of the cars appear undamaged, with only a small layer of soot.

Viking driver Endre Jensen was also at Sola and contributed to the recovery there.

– It was much bigger. This is not close. We then spent two weeks emptying the car park of cars. There was a danger that the building would collapse, so the cars had to be towed out to us by remote-controlled robots, he says.