Fire spreads through Oslo apartment block as emergency services respond

A major fire broke out in an apartment building in Oslo’s Mortensrud district on Tuesday, spreading to at least four units before firefighters brought the flames under control, Dagbladet reports.

Emergency services responded at 16:07 local time after receiving reports of a fire on a balcony. By 16:27, police confirmed the blaze had entered a second-floor apartment and was spreading upward through the building.

“The fire has spread to four apartments,” operations manager Gabriel Langfeldt told Dagbladet. “Firefighters are working intensely from both outside and inside to contain it.”

Ten minutes later, authorities announced that open flames had been extinguished, though heavy smoke remained. A preliminary search of affected units found one person with minor injuries, who was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Witnesses described flames rapidly climbing multiple floors. “I saw the fire—it just shot upward and spread across several levels,” one woman told Dagbladet. She added that Mortensrud Torg shopping centre was temporarily closed due to the incident.

Residents were evacuated as alarms sounded, with police urging bystanders to respect roadblocks to allow emergency vehicle access. Nearby businesses, including a pharmacy, were also briefly cleared.

No serious injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.