Eldur í Heimaey (Fire on Heimaey)

Eldur í Heimaey (Fire on Heimaey)

1974, Island, 16mm on video, color, sound, excerpts 7 min. 53 sec. + 11 min. 36 sec. + 19 min. + 20 min. 36 sec. = approx. 5 min.

Ósvaldur Knudsen, Vilhjálmur Knudsen
During the night of January 23rd 1973, a volcanic eruption broke out on Heimaey the biggest of the Westman Islands. A 1.6 km long fissure then opened up only 200 meters SE of Iceland’s most important fishing centre, the town of Westman Islands. Within a few hours about 5.000 people had been successfully evacuated. The film describes the eruption from beginning to end, showing the measures taken against the devastating lava flow and tephra fall. Icelandic Film Centre