On Thursday morning, a fire broke out at a restaurant in Åre.
At lunchtime the building was burning with open flames, and a while later the entire building was completely destroyed. According to the emergency services, it was not possible to save the restaurant.
– When we arrived, there was heavy smoke in basically the entire building, says Kåke Rosén, rescue leader at the rescue service in Åre, to TV4 Nyheterna.
It was shortly after ten o’clock on Thursday morning that the emergency services were alerted to a fire in the hillside restaurant 720 in the Rödkulle area in Åre. Initially, the emergency services tried to put out the fire from the inside with the help of smoke divers, but after a short while they had to stop the attempts.
– In the beginning, we tried to go in with people to put out the fire from the inside, but when that didn’t work, the tactic was to try to put out the fire from the outside with the help of our high-altitude vehicles. But the fire had been going on for so long and the spread was so strong and fast that we didn’t succeed. In the end we had to retreat and let it burn, says Kåke Rosén.
No one was injured
As the restaurant was closed, no one was injured in connection with the fire.
– It has apparently been closed for a week and a half, so no one was in there and no one was injured. As I understand it, it was a passing tourist who discovered the fire and raised the alarm, says Kåke Rosén.
Despite the fact that the building is still burning, the risk of spreading is considered to be low. Kåke Rosén thanks the weather for that.
– Fortunately, there are no other buildings nearby, but it is an isolated hillside restaurant. Nature is close by with lots of trees and forest, but we have had a bit of wet weather for a while so that has made it favorable for that part. We have not seen any risk of spread to either buildings or forest, he says.
Operation completed
Later in the afternoon, the emergency services announced that they had finished the operation, but that the place was still cordoned off.
– Now we will hand over the responsibility for security to the owners, but until we have done that we will remain here. We have cordoned off the site, because the most important thing now is that no hikers or cyclists come near because it is still a bit warm, says Kåke Rosén.
During the day, several stations have been on site to fight the fire. According to the emergency services, it is still unclear how and where the fire started.