Ålesund fire

Almost simultaneously another manual pull station signal alarm was received from the Kråsbys area.

Although fire crews responded immediately the sky brightened rapidly in the direction of the Aalesund Preserving Co.’s factory.

When the fire engines arrived on the scene, they found the Aalesund Preserving Co. engulfed in flames and the nearest neighbouring buildings also burning.

The draft caused buildings to burn vehemently generating both radiant heat and windblown sparks which spread the fire.

Another fire engine had arrived but the water demand was high and the pressure was so low that the stream could not reach the top of the houses.

Almost immediately thereafter the alarm was raised because the fire had spread to Rasmussen’s place in the Kirkegate, which lay two blocks further into the city, as well as at the Latin school.

Fire fighting on the lower Strandgate could no longer be sustained; the steam driven fireboat had to fall back to a new line on the Langeberggate.

But the wind continued strong, lofting sparks and embers, so that the fire line was jumped and houses along the Prestegate began to burn.

Shortly thereafter Rønneberg & Sønners pakhus in the Notenesgate, which lay about 500 metres (1,600 ft) away on the other side of the Brosund (open water), was reported to be burning.

The wind, which had initially blown out of the southwest, was westerly at day break and continued to shift until it blew without abating out of the northwest.

The fire started late and spread quickly, leading to a hurried evacuation of people at very short notice into the cold January night.

The regional governor Alexander Kielland, reported that over two hundred people spent the night after the fire in Borgund Church.

Kaiser Wilhelm II had been a frequent visitor to the area and expressed a personal concern for the plight of the population.

[2] The pre-fire city centre was extremely crowded, consisting mostly of old and cramped wood housing with only rudimentary sanitary facilities.

Ålesund in 1900 before the fire. The view is from the east looking west as seen from the local mountain Aksla . The bulk of the island Aspøya can be seen in the foreground; the near channel is demarked by the harbor to the right. The fire began on the island, near the last buildings on the island in the upper left. Note that a west wind would push the fire toward the more densely built up areas. The fire was finally controlled at a point to the left, behind the point from which this picture was taken; most of the buildings seen here were destroyed.