Heimaey Town on Fire
Heimaey Town on Fire
On the night of 22nd January 1973, the inhabitants of the tiny offshore island of Heimaey woke to the sound of fire engine sirens. A mile-long volcanic fissure was opening just beyond the town limits. Bombarded by ash and tephra, the 5000 inhabitants were forced to leave.
By coincidence the entire fishing fleet was in port, following a storm the previous day, so the evacuation started that same night.
Over the following weeks and months the eruption showed no signs of abating and an advancing wall of lava continued to threaten the harbour. In a bid to halt it, millions of litres of sea water were pumped onto the lava front – a simple solution which worked. This never tried before procedure reduced the width of the harbour entrance but gave it greater protection.
At the end of the eruption, the inhabitants returned to find 400 of their homes buried under ash and lava. The clean-up operation was an international effort, taking many months but eventually life did get back to normal on Heimaey.
Eldheimar is a new exhibition on the eruption and its impact on the community. It includes an original house that was buried in volcanic ash in 1973 and subsequently excavated, so visitors can see exactly how the house was left when the family fled the eruption all those years ago.