Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
Jan 23rd 2013, 7:50 am
#1
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Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
Just need a few lorries full of toast now -
A road tunnel in Norway has been closed - by a lorry-load of burning cheese.
About 27 tonnes of caramelised brown goat cheese - a delicacy known as Brunost - caught light as it was being driven through the Brattli Tunnel at Tysfjord, northern Norway, last week.
The fire raged for five days and smouldering toxic gases were slowing the recovery operation, officials said.
The tunnel - which is said to be badly damaged - is likely to remain closed for several weeks, they added.
"We can't go in until it's safe," geologist Viggo Aronsen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Police officer Viggo Berg said the high concentration of fat and sugar in the cheese made it burn "almost like petrol if it gets hot enough".
The lorry driver had noticed the fire in his trailer and abandoned it about 300m (1,000ft) from the southern entrance. No-one was hurt.
Kjell Bjoern Vinje, of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, said it was the first time he could remember cheese catching fire on Norwegian roads.
"I didn't know that brown cheese burns so well," he said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21141244
A road tunnel in Norway has been closed - by a lorry-load of burning cheese.
About 27 tonnes of caramelised brown goat cheese - a delicacy known as Brunost - caught light as it was being driven through the Brattli Tunnel at Tysfjord, northern Norway, last week.
The fire raged for five days and smouldering toxic gases were slowing the recovery operation, officials said.
The tunnel - which is said to be badly damaged - is likely to remain closed for several weeks, they added.
"We can't go in until it's safe," geologist Viggo Aronsen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Police officer Viggo Berg said the high concentration of fat and sugar in the cheese made it burn "almost like petrol if it gets hot enough".
The lorry driver had noticed the fire in his trailer and abandoned it about 300m (1,000ft) from the southern entrance. No-one was hurt.
Kjell Bjoern Vinje, of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, said it was the first time he could remember cheese catching fire on Norwegian roads.
"I didn't know that brown cheese burns so well," he said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21141244
Jan 23rd 2013, 9:42 am
#2
Joined: Jan 2012
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Re: Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
That horrific Mont Blanc tunnel fire a few years ago in which dozens of people were killed was due a fire in a truck loaded with margarine.
Jan 23rd 2013, 10:01 am
#3
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Re: Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
27 tonnes is a lot of cheese ! I feel sorry for the goats who produced all that milk in vain !
Jan 23rd 2013, 10:10 am
#4
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Re: Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_butter_crisis
Jan 23rd 2013, 1:09 pm
#6
Excess Baggage
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Re: Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
What caused it to ignite in the first place?
Jan 23rd 2013, 2:37 pm
#9
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Re: Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
Totally illogical. Why would mice try to destroy something they depend on? That would be like terrorists causing carnage in their own country, indiscriminately killing their own countryfolk, preventing the organs of state from functioning and thereby causing hardship and distress to all, and bringing their own country to chaos. Oh, hang on...
Jan 23rd 2013, 9:57 pm
#10
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Re: Cheese Fire Closes Tunnel
Totally illogical. Why would mice try to destroy something they depend on? That would be like terrorists causing carnage in their own country, indiscriminately killing their own countryfolk, preventing the organs of state from functioning and thereby causing hardship and distress to all, and bringing their own country to chaos. Oh, hang on...
But seriously, there is something ominous here: "I didn't know that brown cheese burns so well," he said
