Two terraced houses with ten apartments each are affected. One has burned to the ground. In the other, some of the apartments on the outer edges have been saved.
The extinguishing work has had a good effect and you can hardly see any smoke anymore, but we will be monitoring during the night for any smoldering fires, says Lena Hoffman at the rescue service.
The fire alarm was reported just before 1 p.m.
The police have no information that anyone has been seriously injured. According to Region Västmanland, an adult woman has been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
"The only thing I've learned is that some people may have inhaled smoke," said police spokesperson Maria Hall at 4 p.m.
Gigantic flames
Liselott Åsberg Samuelsson lives next door to the townhouse area and was woken up by a crash followed by the sound of sirens that quickly fell silent.
"I had been working at night and thought there might have been an accident right outside. Then I looked out and saw these gigantic flames," she says.
A neighbour told her that she had seen smoke coming from a house, but that everything then happened very quickly.
It was apparently an explosive event and then ten houses were burned down. Nothing remains now.
Sprayed with a water hose
She feels for the families who have now had their homes destroyed and is grateful that the wind this day was not blowing in her direction.
"It was so hot when I came out that it almost felt like my house was going to catch fire. I sprayed the facade with a water hose just to do something, you feel so powerless," says Liselott Åsberg Samuelsson.
Arboga Municipality has called in its crisis support group to take care of those affected.
