The alarm came at 05.25 on Sunday. The fire had broken out at a recycling facility in an industrial area.
The rescue service worked on the fire throughout the day.
Now it looks good for our part. We have no fire on site, but there is some smoke from the lithium batteries, says Tero Paakki, duty officer at the rescue service, to TT late in the afternoon.
The rescue service is now cooling down the batteries and will have personnel on site all night.
Hospital in emergency mode
When the fire broke out, a VMA – important message to the public – was issued, and people in the area were advised to go indoors and close doors, windows, and ventilation.
The warning was later extended to Överby shopping center, which is in the wind direction of the fire. This also applies to Norra Älvsborgs county hospital, which went into emergency mode and closed ventilation as a precautionary measure.
There is a lot of smoke. This is not healthy smoke to breathe in, but if you smell smoke at a distance, it's no danger, said Peter Gustafsson at the rescue service earlier during the day.
At 17.00, the VMA was withdrawn.
There are no reports of anyone being injured.
Second fire this year
In January this year, there was a fire in the same building, operated by the company IQR. Even then, it was lithium-ion batteries that had caught fire, resulting in hazardous smoke, writes TTELA.
The batteries are stored at the facility before being shipped abroad for recycling. According to IQR's CEO Thomas Karlström, the fire may have been caused by the batteries being packaged incorrectly.
This with battery recycling is quite new, and it has been noticed by MSB and other authorities. The way batteries are stored and packaged today is questionable, says Karlström at a press conference.
The police will initiate an investigation into gross negligence and conduct a technical investigation of the site as soon as the rescue service is finished.
