The hospital fire of 1853
Just four years after Lungegård Hospital was completed, it burned to the ground in the early hours of Sunday 25 December 1853. It was an intense and tragic fire, and seven people lost their lives.
The dramatic fire is briefly described in two news items, one in Bergens Adressecontoirs Efterretninger and one in Bergenske Blade. It was about half past one in the morning when the alarm sounded in the city with cannon shot and the church bells ringing. At Stadsporten, people were met by a terrible sight, as the entire hospital was ablaze. The flames were said to have leapt from the roof and windows. All that could be done was to cut down all the fences around the hospital. The fire spread quickly, and the newspaper Bergenske Blade believed that the iron roof was to blame, because the fire did not escape through it and therefore spread down and into the building.
A contributor to the newspaper Bergens Adressecontoirs Efterretninger wrote that ‘The confusion within must have been endless.’ Patients and staff had to flee wearing only their underwear/nightwear, and rope down from the windows using ‘cords made of bedspreads and sheets.’ The building burned to the ground in just a few hours, and none of the inventory was saved.
Head physician Danielssen placed a missing person notice in the newspaper, for the six people who were missing. It later emerged that they had died in the fire. Thank you notices from Danielssen and chaplain Grønvold stated that some citizens in the city had donated money to the victims of the fire in the hospital, and that this had already been distributed among those affected.
The patients were eventually accommodated at the military school in Kong Oscars gate, which was used as a hospital for several years, until Lungegård Hospital was rebuilt and could once again be used.
Photo: Svein Skare © University Museum of Bergen.
To the stranger who yesterday gave me 5 Sp. for those affected by the fire at Lungegård Hospital, I send my most sincere thanks.
26th December.
D C. Danielssen
A few of the city’s residents have donated some gifts to be distributed among those affected by the fire at Lungegård Hospital. I, on their behalf, gratefully acknowledge the receipt of these gifts, and, if there are others who wish to help their unfortunate fellow men in the same way, I would consider it a pleasant duty to receive whatever charity people can afford to give, and, in agreement with the hospital’s other staff, ensure it is suitably distributed among those in need, and then present the accounts in this newspaper.
Bergen 25th of Dec. 1853
Grønvold
Chaplain.
