All available firefighters in the capital region were called out to a burning house on Laugavegur 40 in central Reykjavík yesterday evening after a pedestrian reported that smoke could be seen coming from the building’s roof.
The photo is not related to the story. By Geir Ólafsson.
Neighboring houses were evacuated for safety reasons as it took a while to locate the source of the fire. The source turned out to be in the loft where a chimney extends out of the roof, visir.is reports.
The circumstances were difficult. Backup had to be called for to tear iron plates off the roof to extinguish the fire in the insulation. One firefighter was injured in the process and spent the night at the hospital, although his injuries are minimal.
The fire was extinguished shortly after midnight but the site was monitored throughout the night. The origin of the fire is unknown.
