This report is commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) and the Norwegian Building Authority (DiBK). RISE Fire Research has been commissioned to evaluate the fire in the multi-storey car park at Stavanger airport Sola on the 7th January 2020. The aim is to promote learning points for public benefit with regard to the extent of the fire, regulations, extinguishing efforts, structural design, effects on the environment and the role of electric vehicles in the fire development. Information has been collected via interviews, on-site inspection, contact with stakeholders, review of relevant regulations, documents and literature. Design of the building: Active, passive and organizational fire protection measures have been evaluated. In our opinion, the multi-storey car park should have been placed in Fire class 4 (“brannklasse 4”), since it was adjacent to important infrastructure for society. The fire design documentation for building stages B and C has shortcomings in terms of assessment of sectioning, installation of fire alarm or extinguishing systems, as well as assessment of the fire resistance of the loadbearing structure. There are a number of inconsistencies that indicate that the fire risk has not been fully mapped and assessed in connection with the preparation of the fire designs. Regulations: No deficiencies were found in the regulations relevant to this incident. Small adjustments in wording between different editions of regulations (e.g. guidance for technical regulations) can have a major impact on how the regulations should be interpreted. It is important that the authorities highlight such changes and that the fire consultant who develop a fire engineering concept avoid uncritical reuse of content from older fire concepts. Handling of the incident: How the fire service and other parties handled the incident during the emergency phase has been evaluated, and learning points have been identified for the following areas (details in section 7.3): The basis for creating national learning after major events, action plans, exercise and training, collaboration and common situational understanding, management tools, call-out, information sharing and initial situation report, immediate measures, the goal of the effort and tactical plan, organization of the site, communication and collaboration, logistics and depots, as well as handling uncertainties and follow-up. Electric vehicles: Water analyses of selected metals relevant for batteries in electric vehicles did not show any lithium, and only low concentrations of cobalt. This indicates that batteries in electric vehicles did not contribute to pollution of nearby water resources. Observations during the fire indicate that electric vehicles did not contribute to the fire development beyond what is expected from conventional vehicles. Further technical studies of the batteries from the burned electric and hybrid vehicles are necessary to evaluate whether batteries from electric vehicles were involved in the fire.

Environmental impact, extinguishing foam: During the incident, a lot of extinguishing foam was used, but this led to a limited environmental impact. The extinguishing foam was found not to add substantial amounts of PFAS during the extinguishing efforts. Analyses conducted by COWI still show PFAS content in all water samples, which is linked to previous emissions. Oxygen depletion as a result of release of extinguishing foam is considered to have led to local toxic effects on the aquatic environment, but not a general negative effect on the sea life in Solavika. There is a need for stronger awareness of, and focus on the use of, extinguishing foams and logging of the amount of foam used. Here one may learn from Sweden. Environmental impact, smoke: Smoke from the fire was mainly not driven in the direction of the terminal buildings, and during the first period only in the direction of areas with low population density. The fire smoke affected the evacuation of a nearby hotel. Eventually, the wind turned in the direction of areas with higher population density, and a population warning was sent out. Based on few health consultations (11 at the emergency room and 2 in hospital), as well as the municipality’s assessment of the incident, it is assumed that the fire smoke had limited health consequences for neighbours. The smoke content has not been analyzed. Finally; learning points from evaluation of the fire are relevant for many stakeholders, such as the fire service, authorities, construction design, for the owner and for research in the field.