The fire was discovered by Karl Wijk, who was on an outing with his son. According to SVT Sörmland, Karl Wijk described initially thinking it was just a bonfire, but upon closer inspection, he saw flames burning on the outside of the wind shelter. He noted that the fire spread quite quickly, and it was windy at the time. Wijk alerted the rescue service, which arrived after a while and extinguished the blaze. The wind shelter burned heavily, and according to Wijk, it also started burning in the ground.
The viewpoint was a gift to Prince Alexander, son of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, from Södermanland County, inaugurated in 2018. The gift cost 400,000 kronor, with the region and the county administrative board among those behind it. Sörmlands naturbruk, which is part of the region, was informed of the news after the incident. According to SVT Sörmland, Lotta Lindberg-Thompson, operations manager for Sörmlands naturbruk, described the situation as incredibly sad.
It is of course incredibly sad.
Exactly what caused the fire is not entirely clear at the moment, and the extent of damage to the wind shelter and surrounding area has not been confirmed. It remains unknown whether the fire was accidental or intentional, and there are no reports of injuries or other safety incidents. Future plans for the site have not been disclosed.
Then it spread quite fast.
It was scary in that way.
It is of course incredibly sad.