Yesterday evening the Metropolitan Police and Fire Department received calls from concerned citizens that a fire had broken out at summer cottage by Elliðavatn lake on the eastern outskirts of Reykjavík. When police arrived at the scene they discovered that the fire people had seen was actually a campfire, lit by a group of foreign travellers.
The fire department, which had not yet arrived at the scene, was called off as the police officers helped the travellers put out the campfire.
A permit from the fire department is required for any open fires in Reykjavík, and campfires are illegal on public land in Iceland. All fires which contain more than 1 cubic meter of combustible materials or are expected to burn for more than two hours require a written permit from the Police. Landowners can light fires on their own property if all steps are taken to ensure that they pose no threat of spreading or inconvenience others.
Yesterday evening the Metropolitan Police and Fire Department received calls from concerned citizens that a fire had broken out at summer cottage by Elliðavatn lake on the eastern outskirts of Reykjavík. When police arrived at the scene they discovered that the fire people had seen was actually a campfire, lit by a group of foreign travellers.
The fire department, which had not yet arrived at the scene, was called off as the police officers helped the travellers put out the campfire.
A permit from the fire department is required for any open fires in Reykjavík, and campfires are illegal on public land in Iceland. All fires which contain more than 1 cubic meter of combustible materials or are expected to burn for more than two hours require a written permit from the Police. Landowners can light fires on their own property if all steps are taken to ensure that they pose no threat of spreading or inconvenience others.
