Blaze could have burnt pipe around salmon cage.
Bergens Tidende reports that on Tuesday afternoon, a fire started from a lithium battery at Lerøy’s fish farm in Hjeltefjorden, northwest of Bergen, Norway.
Andreas Aldeholm, commander of the Red Cross boat in the area, saw the smoke from a far distance and headed for the facility.
“It burned in a closet that hung on the plastic pipe that goes around the cage. The employees at the salmon farm had emptied a powder apparatus over the cabinet, without much effect,” said Aldeholm.
“The pipe goes around the whole cage. Had it not been extinguished, the whole cage could have been gone all along, and I don’t know how much fish could have escaped,” he added.
No persons are said to have been present during the fire, which was soon extinguished with the help of a water hose from the Red Cross boat. There are no reports of any escaped fish.
“It is too early to say anything about the cause. Now work is being done to secure salmon and facilities and uncover the cause,” wrote Lerøy’s public affairs spokesperson Krister Hoaas in a text message to BT.
