The fire in the sewage treatment plant in Norrstig in Härnösand municipality on Wednesday may have been started. This is stated by the police, who have initiated a preliminary investigation into suspected arson, reports P4Västernorrland.
– Circumstances in this case make us suspect that it may be a fire. I can not go into what it is at the moment, says Maria Linné who is the police spokesperson in the North region, to the radio.
The site has been cordoned off for some time for technical inspection.
The fire, which started at six o’clock in the morning, led to heavy smoke and a so-called VMA – an important message to the public – was issued.
The rescue service caused the treatment plant to burn down completely and wastewater from 1,200 households in the area is now discharged untreated into Älandsfjärden. Hemab, which operates the facility, asks residents in the area to be frugal with sewage use.
“Everything works as before at our customers’ homes, but it would be good if we could temporarily reduce the load. Of course you should be able to use toilets and so on as you want, but if it is possible to take shorter showers or maybe postpone the laundry for a few days, we would be grateful “, says Fredrik Olsson, head of Hemab, in a press release.
Hemab investigates the possible environmental impact of the discharge of wastewater.