History and statistics
How many fires there are, the largest fires and what the authorities prepare for.
Norway has kept statistics on forest fires for more than a hundred years. Here you will find the numbers, the largest fires we know of, and how bad it can get.
How many forest fires are there in Norway each year?
It varies a lot with the weather. From 2016 to 2020, between 260 and 911 forest fires a year were recorded, the fewest in 2019 and the most in 2018. Counting fires in open land, grass and scrub as well, the figure for 2018 was over 2,000, more than twice the normal.
The figures differ because the sources count different types of fire.
How long have forest fire statistics been kept in Norway?
Since 1913. Statistics Norway kept them from 1925 to 1989, and since 1990 what is now the Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) has been responsible.
What is the largest forest fire in Norway?
The largest in recent times is the fire in Froland in Agder in June 2008. It lasted almost two weeks and burned about 26,000 decares (2,600 ha).
Before records began, there were even larger fires. In Rendalen about 60 km² of forest burned in 1844, and the fire at Basevuovdi in Karasjok in 1894 is estimated at around 120 km², though that figure is uncertain. The Flatanger fire in January 2014 was smaller, but 64 buildings were lost.
See the largest wildfires in Norway, the Nordic countries and the world.
What are the largest town fires in Norway?
The map and the list of largest fires cover fires in forest and other vegetation, so town fires are not included there. But Norway has a long history of towns burning. Some of the best known are:
- Christiania 1624: all of old Oslo burned in a fire that lasted three days. The town was moved and rebuilt as Christiania.
- Trondheim 1681: the whole town burned and was rebuilt to a new plan with wide streets.
- Drammen 1866: 358 houses burned and 5,000 people lost their homes.
- Ålesund 1904: about 800 houses burned and about 12,000 people lost their homes. The fire led to a requirement for brick and stone buildings, and the town was rebuilt in Art Nouveau style.
- Bergen 1916: 380 buildings in the centre burned, about 3,000 people lost their homes and two died.
- Lærdalsøyri 2014: 40 buildings burned, six of them listed.
- Krokstadelva in Drammen 2026: 116 homes burned down, the largest residential fire in Norway in a century.
Store norske leksikon has a longer list of major Norwegian fires (in Norwegian). The fire in open land that destroyed the most buildings is Flatanger in 2014, with 64. It is on the map.
Source: Hoel, Rimstad and Rake: “norske storbranner”, Store norske leksikon, retrieved 10 October 2026.
Which fires in Norway have claimed the most lives?
Forest fires in Norway fortunately rarely claim lives. The deadliest fires have been in buildings:
- Grue church 1822: 117 died when the church burned during the Whitsun service.
- Elverum 1940: 41 died when German aircraft bombed and set fire to the town centre.
- Hegdehaugsveien in Oslo 1938: 29 died in a studio fire.
- Stalheim Hotel 1959: 25 died.
- The Hjorten pharmacy in Oslo 1859: 17 died.
- Alstadhaug nursing home in Sandnessjøen 1979 and Hotel Caledonien in Kristiansand 1986: 14 died in each.
The deadliest forest fire we have recorded in Norway is the fire on Hardangervidda in 1947, in which a boy died.
Source: Hoel, Rimstad and Rake: “norske storbranner”, Store norske leksikon, retrieved 10 October 2026.
How bad could a forest fire in Norway get?
The Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) has analysed an imagined scenario for 2030 with climate change. Several large forest fires burn at the same time in Southern Norway, all of the state's 22 forest fire helicopters are deployed, up to 3,000 people must be evacuated, and the direct losses are estimated at NOK 5–10 billion.
This is a scenario for emergency planning, not something that has happened.