A massive forest fire broke out in Vreimsida in Bø on Thursday. As of Friday, there were still outages, and the fire service warned of the grave danger of wildfires.

The progress of the blackout is quite good with the blackout process on Thursday night. However, the work takes time and is still there after the blackout on Friday.

Task manager Harald Kleppo at Sør-Øst 110 said the job was demanding because of the rough terrain. Helicopters helped after the blackout, he said.

– The risk of forest fires is high, throughout Eastern Norway. We urge the public to be careful, this time is scary, Kleppo told VG, Friday morning.

At approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, a massive fire broke out in the climbing area near Eriksteinsfjellet on Bø in Telemark. This area is very dry.

From the ground and up to the treetops

About two hours later, reports emerged that the fire had spread rapidly and quadrupled in about half an hour.

– It has gone from ground level and to the top of the tree. It moved fast because it was blowing a lot, said operations manager Kai Lindgren at the fire service at the time.

Throughout the afternoon still spread, but by night, the firefighters managed to control.

Due to the direction of the wind, there is no immediate danger of spreading to houses.

Firefighters have crews on all sides of a fire to stop and extinguish it.

– It’s completely impassable for humans while on fire. Trees were uprooted at the site and there are many steep cliffs and valleys, Tom Berger of the fire service told Telemarksavisa Thursday morning.

During the period of the strongest fires, the fires spread to treetops in several places, according to firefighters.

Forest fire warning

Part of the 334 district road near Bø was also closed due to the fire.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has issued orange warnings for forest fires in several places in the country.

Warm weather and little rainfall make it very dry, which increases the risk of forest and grass fires.

According to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the danger of wildfires in southern Norway will persist until there is rainfall.

April was the ninth driest April in 122 years.