Sweden fights forest fires

Sweden, faced for nearly two weeks with major forest fires, decided to send fighter planes to fight the flames, but not with water but with bombs

The forest fires that swept the region of Älvdalen, in central Sweden, broke out 13 days ago. Worse than that, the fire had begun to advance towards a military base with shells. This has hindered the firefighters' mission because the base is in a hard-to-reach place, notes the Local.

Because other options did not work, the Swedish Air Force sent a squad of Jet 39 Gripen fighters to launch a bomb over the flames in the hope that the pressure released by the explosion could move away the flame

"The oxygen of the fire can be removed with a bomb, and in this case I could try this option," says Johan Szymanski, the leader of the fire brigade,

"Our preliminary analysis shows that we will have positive effects," he added. was launched from 3,000 meters and reached a speed of 550 km / h before reaching its target.

In this way, the planes managed to extinguish the flames on a perimeter of up to 100 meters from the square. in which the bomb fell.

Sweden has faced more than 40 forest fires in recent days. On Monday, the authorities said that an area of ​​25,000 hectares was affected, including 2,500 hectares in Dalarna, 8,500 in Gavleborg, 500 in Vasternorrland and 8,500 in Jamtland

Read the MAE published a travel alert for Sweden, the country ravaged by forest fires for a week

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