Lærdal, located at the head of Sognefjorden, is the driest place in Norway, with 20% of Bergen’s precipitation falls on it. Due to its geographical location behind the mountain, it suffers from rain shadow effect and föhn effect in winter, which contributes to its dry climate. Meanwhile, the winter in 2014 was exceptionally dry, with only 20% of its usual precipitation, and windy. At the end, a fire started in a house next to the fire station eventually spread to the west with the strong and dry Easteries.

The fire in Lærdal 2014 broke out on Lærdalsøyri on the evening of 18 January 2014, spread rapidly in strong winds and took on the character of a city fire. It claimed no lives, but damaged at least 60 buildings, 42 of which were completely damaged. The fire in Lærdal is the largest town/townfire in Norway since World War II, and the largest in peacetime since 1923. The fire was the first of the three on a Norwegian scale of very large fires in the west in the winter of 2014.