Fire firefighters injured as wildfire engulfs 100 homes in Drammen

Drammen fire officials declared the blaze in Krokstadelva the worst peacetime fire in a century after more than 100 homes were destroyed and at least 400 people evacuated.

Firefighters battled the inferno for hours Friday after it erupted in a row of terraced houses and leapt from building to building in minutes. Witness Kristin Nilsebråten, who lives 200–300 metres from the scene, told Dagbladet she saw entire terraces engulfed within seven minutes of her first call to emergency services.

“When we reached the front of the first row house it was already fully ablaze,” she said. “While I spoke to the fire brigade the fire kept spreading—house by house.” Nilsebråten and a neighbour tried to alert residents but heat blocked access to some properties. “We knocked on doors but it was too hot to stay. In one row we couldn’t reach anyone; no one answered.”

She described the scene as an “inferno” with flames visible across the hillside. Wind carried the blaze away from her own apartment, she said, but warned that a shift in direction could have threatened her home.

Emergency crews rescued several residents and evacuated more than 400 people from surrounding streets. Four firefighters were injured and taken to hospital for treatment; their conditions were not disclosed. Police have cordoned off the area, complicating efforts to locate pets still trapped inside damaged homes.

Drammen mayor Kjell Arne Hermansen said the fire was the most destructive in the municipality since 1923.