“Eight buses burned – they’re damaged but I don’t know how much,” said Ingemar Johansson of the Gothenburg Police told Expressen newspaper.

The scale of the fire meant that 23 emergency staff from three separate fire-stations were called in to control the flames.

One person involved in the effort was left with smoke related injuries, though these are described as minor.

The blaze, which broke out in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was contained to only eight of the depot’s buses as thefire crew moved fast to move other vehicles to prevent the flames from spreading.

The fire was put out within one hour of the emergency call, which was placed at 2am.

While police considered foul play to be an initial cause of the fire, it was later discovered that the earliest traces of the blaze were within the brake systems of one of the buses, a possibility which was confirmed by one of the drivers later on Tuesday morning.

The Local/og