Forest fires in Sweden become uncontrollable

Sweden waits for rain for weeks

According to the emergency call center, about 40 fires are raging in the forests of the whole country. In the meantime, there were even over 80 smaller fires. The fire spreads quickly because in Sweden it is very dry. For weeks, it did not rain properly. All is not in sight: only on Wednesday, the Swedish meteorological service had issued more heat warnings for the next five days.

"The situation in which we find ourselves is extraordinary," Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said Thursday during a visit to one of the fire zones. Sweden should be better prepared for extreme weather conditions, he acknowledged. "The risk of new fires is high." The government will of course do everything in its power to quickly control fires.

The three largest fires of Gävleborg, Jämtland and Dalarna in the middle of Sweden north of Stockholm alone included 20,000 hectares on Thursday. Forests worth about 600 million crowns (nearly 60 million euros) have been destroyed so far. The worst fire is raging in the municipality of Ljusdal, according to the rescuers are here over 8500 hectares in flames, an area 25 times larger than the Central Park in New York. The "front of fire" is 55 kilometers long.

The village of Kårböle, about 380 kilometers north of Stockholm, is now surrounded by flames on three sides. In a few hours, the fire zone had doubled, as said a spokesman for the relief service of the newspaper "Aftonbladet". As a result, residents were safe Wednesday night.

Only a few hours, then large parts of the forest were in flames

The fire spread incredibly fast, also reported Evert Hansson. "In a few hours, large parts of the forest were in flames." He and his wife are strong, but the concern is to watch them. "You do not know what's going on and how it looks like at home now," Hansson said.

The Swedish authorities have asked for help from other countries. Italy and France sent fire-fighting planes, Norway provided helicopters. There were so many firefighters that the special aircraft from sunrise to sunset could be used, said an Italian pilot of the SVT television station.

A flying bird, the yellow pilots fired again and again on the Swedish lakes, they load their belly full of water during the flyover. The tanks contain 6,000 liters, which are then drained by the lights identified by the drone.

Forest fires are increasingly putting the Swedish government under pressure. The conservative opposition party Kristdemokraten criticized the fact that Sweden consists of 70% of forests, but did not have clean airplanes. Löfven stressed that it was not important to know who owned the plane, but that Sweden could use it in case of emergency. "Let us have this discussion later, we will thoroughly evaluate it.Now, my goal is to extinguish these fires here and now," he begged.

Heat still to come

However, the situation could worsen because of the lingering heat. The inhabitants who had to leave their homes are prepared for the worst. "You do not know what will happen if the house burns," said Sune Larsson of Kårböle on Swedish radio. What he took at home: photo albums. Stick to what he looked like.

By RND / dpa