Vegetation in Thingvellir national park, southwest Iceland, caught fire after a tourist tossed a burning cigarette off a cliff. According to guide Stefán Helgi Valsson, there was a lot of smoke, but staff were successful in extinguishing the fire.
National park staff on duty poured water onto the burning vegetation and managed to put out the fire. Fire fighters were still called to the scene to make sure there were no lingering embers, Morgunbladid reports.
The tourist had tossed the cigarette into Almannagjá, a cleft which shows where the European and American tectonic plates meet. The UNESCO-listed Thingvellir site is significant to Iceland’s history, because the Althingi parliament was founded there in 930.
Click here to read about diving in Thingvellir.
