A pillar of smoke was seen near Akranes
Ljósmynd/Aðsend
A fire occurred in the container area of the recycling operation Terra just outside Akranes, and heavy smoke was visible from the capital area this afternoon.
The fire started in an area where over a hundred decrepit cars were being demolished into scrap metal, when sparks got to them today, was reported on Skessuhorn’s website. Moreover, reports were that the fire departments couldn’t do much about it for some time because attempts of spraying water on the fire only intensified it.
The fire spread fast
Skessuhorn spoke to Inspector Garðar Axelsson, of the West Iceland Police:
"The cars were being worked on, the catalytic converters were being removed from some of the cars and there was probably a spark that caught oil or something that had been leaking from underneath some of the cars there. It must have ignited the fire which spread fast,” the captain said.
The fire burning in the container area at Akranes started from the demolition of decrepit cars and there were approximately 100 cars on fire according to Mariusz Cezary Michalek, foreman at Terra in Akranes.
It is the scrap metal recycling company Málma that is involved in the demolition and the employees were still working on extracting catalytic converters when the fire broke out. Mariusz says that the fire became very intense fast as oil and gasoline residue were on the tanks of some of the cars.
Managed to put out all the fire around 17:30 PM
The affected area is a container area owned by Akranes city, which rents it out to companies like Terra but also to the recycling company Málma.
Mariusz says there Málma demolishes cars from all over the western part of Iceland but the plan was to remove the scrap metal from the premises next Monday.
He said that three fire trucks were in the area present, but they had some difficulties in getting water. The cars were burning for quite some time but finally they managed to put the fire out around 17:30 today.
Police will be monitoring the area tonight.
Here are some pictures from the scene:
Photo/Guðmundur St.
mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
Ljósmynd/Guðmundur St.
