Record heat and drought: heavy forest fires in Sweden

After weeks of drought and heat, more than 40 forest fires broke out in Sweden. With international help, they are contained. However, the government is under pressure

By Carsten Schmiester, Stockholm Studio ARS

"They gave us 20 minutes, which had to be enough to hook up the caravan and think about what we wanted to take with us, all from village had to leave. "Evert Hansson had the misfortune of living too close to one of the fires. His village, Kårböle, 400 kilometers north of Stockholm, was already surrounded on three sides by the flames.

The inhabitants left in time to hope that their homes would not burn. Evacuations are also underway in other fire zones.

After weeks of record heat and drought, the situation continues to worsen. The civil defense is currently talking about more than 40 forest fires on 20,000 hectares across the country, but especially in the north and in the middle, as in the province of Gävleborg. The forest fires are therefore uncontrollable.

"Currently, the situation is very critical: two fires are spreading rapidly, from Enskogen to the north and Ängra to the south, and they are regrouping, which will be really important" Hans Nornholm, fire chief in the Ljusdal region

International support

Swedes are not able to do everything alone. Italian and French planes are in action or in motion. Norway has sent helicopters flying large containers of fire-fighting water to the fires.

Police and firefighters across the country, but also the Civil Defense and the Army, bring their people back from their summer vacation.

A red-green government under pressure

"How come we have so many forests, but we do not have our own firefighting planes?" – it was one of the questions that the head of government Stefan Löfven The Social Democrats had to listen to his visit to Ljusdal in the afternoon. In September are the elections. The opposition strongly criticizes the red-green minority government: "It is overwhelmed" that there is "poor coordination".

Löfven responds: "It is important to evaluate events thoroughly when fires are extinguished. We will learn from them in order to be better able to react in the future.

He then thanked the firefighters and the many caregivers for their "great dedication", which will necessarily be much bigger. Because weather forecasts can be a terrible fear: In many parts of Sweden, it stays hot and dry for the next few days.