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FIRE

Huge fire rages in central Gothenburg

A massive fire in an apartment building in central Gothenburg continued to rage early Tuesday morning as more than 50 firefighters battled the blaze in the city's Nordstan neighbourhood.

Huge fire rages in central Gothenburg

While no injuries have been reported, physical damage to the building, located on Smedjegatan, is expected to be extensive.

More than 50 firefighters from six stations were working to extinguish the blaze, which broke out in the middle of the night and spread through the building’s attic.

Firefighters were forced to punch a hole in the roof in their efforts to put out the fire.

“It’s hard to put out and hard to get at,” emergency services commander Peter Engström told the TT news agency.

Engström explained that the attic runs across several stone buildings and that there are several nooks and crannies.

A number of art studios are housed in the part of the attic that was engulfed in flames, and several of them are believed to have been destroyed.

The floor below houses a number of offices, but it remains unclear to what extent they were damaged in the blaze.

Police have knocked on doors in the area but have yet to find anyone who was injured by the fire.

There was also no need to evacuate residents from the building and no one was believed to be in the attic when the fire broke out.

Emergency services expects fire crews to continue their work to put out the fire until midday Tuesday.

TT/The Local/dl

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FIRE

Situation ‘unstable’ at Copenhagen’s old stock exchange after fire

Three days after a fire which ravaged Copenhagen's historic former stock exchange broke out, emergency services said Friday that the situation was "unstable" due to equipment issues and a strong breeze.

Situation 'unstable' at Copenhagen's old stock exchange after fire

In the morning, during work to dismantle the scaffolding surrounding the building, a crane’s cutters came loose for as of yet unknown reasons.

It is currently wedged between the scaffolding — put up for the renovation of the historic building that was ongoing — and what remains of the walls.

“It is affecting our efforts”, Tim Ole Simonsen, leader of the operation at the rescue services, told a press conference.

Coupled with the wind picking up, the incident, which has temporarily halted work on dismantling the scaffolding, has made the situation “unstable”.

“The wind is blowing harder and harder, and there are tarps over the scaffolding that can catch the wind,” Simonsen said.

He added that this increases the risks, in particular of further collapse of the burnt-out facade which started collapsing late Thursday afternoon.

Located close to the Christiansborg parliament and seat of government, the Borsen building was commissioned by King Christian IV and built between 1619 and 1640. It was the stock exchange until the 1970s.

The fire began Tuesday morning under the copper roof of the building, which was undergoing renovations ahead of its 400th anniversary.

The cause of the blaze was unknown and Copenhagen police said Wednesday that a major investigation had been launched.

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