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WILDFIRES

Looming windstorms could worsen Sweden’s wildfires

A meteorological cocktail of strong winds and thunderstorms on its way to Sweden on Saturday could aggravate the wildfires still raging in some of the country’s most affected areas, authorities are warning.

Published: 28 July 2018 11:51 CEST
Looming windstorms could worsen Sweden's wildfires
Photos: TT

The drop in temperatures in Sweden on Saturday will bring with it cold gusts of wind and thunderstorms that pose a new set of challenges for fire rescue services.

“We know that these strong winds are only going to make the blazes burn stronger and faster,” Ljusdal fire operations manager Hans Nornholm told Swedish news agency TT.

“So we are deploying extra security measures as there may be trees pulled down to the ground by the wind.

“The plan is to try to keep the fire from spreading past the boundary line while there are strong squalls, and once they stop in the evening, we fight the flames back again.”

Wildfires are still raging in 19 areas across the country, according to SOS Alarm.

The blazes around Färila in the Ljusdal municipality and in the woods east of Älvdalen in northern Dalarna require particular attention from firefighters.

The fear among rescue services now is that windstorms could spread the flames and start new fires and that lightning could also play a negative role.

“In Finspång, Norrköping and Flen some wildfires were started by thunderstorms, ” senior rescue service member Peter Arnevall told an MSB press conference.

Firefighters in Jämtland are hoping the looming bad weather won’t prevent them from putting out the flames this weekend as was previously  looking possible.

“The situation is still exceptional,” said Deputy Chief of MSB's Operational Department Mikael Tofvesson.  

 

 

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WILDFIRES

France gets help from EU neighbours as wildfires rage

Firefighting teams and equipment from six EU nations started to arrive in France on Thursday to help battle a spate of wildfires, including a fierce blaze in the parched southwest that has forced thousands to evacuate.

Published: 12 August 2022 08:48 CEST
France gets help from EU neighbours as wildfires rage

Most of the country is sweltering under a summer heatwave compounded by a record drought – conditions most experts say will occur more often as a result of rapid climate change.

“We must continue, more than ever, our fight against climate disruption and … adapt to this climate disruption,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said after arriving at a fire command post in the village of Hostens, south of Bordeaux.

The European Commission said four firefighting planes would be sent to France from Greece and Sweden, as well as teams from Austria, Germany, Poland and Romania.

“Our partners are coming to France’s aid against the fires. Thank you to them. European solidarity is at work!” President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.

“Across the country over 10,000 firefighters and security forces are mobilised against the flames… These soldiers of fire are our heroes,” he said.

In total, 361 foreign firefighters were  dispatched to assist their 1,100 French colleagues deployed in the worst-hit part of the French southwest.

A first contingent of 65 German firefighters, followed by their 24 vehicles, arrived Thursday afternoon and were to go into action at dawn Friday, officials said.

Among eight major fires currently raging, the biggest is the Landiras fire in the southwest Gironde department, whose forests and beaches draw huge tourist crowds each summer.

It had already burned 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres) in July – the driest month seen in France since 1961 – before being contained, but it continued to smoulder in the region’s tinder-dry pine forests and peat-rich soil.

Since flaring up again Tuesday, which officials suspect may have been caused by arson, it has burned 7,400 hectares, destroyed or damaged 17 homes, and forced 10,000 people to quit their homes, said Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Mendousse of the Gironde fire and rescue service.

Borne said nine firefighting planes are already dumping water on the blaze, with two more to be in service by the weekend.

“Gigantic”
“We battled all night to stop the fire from spreading, notably to defend the village of Belin-Beliet,” Mendousse told journalists in Hostens.

On several houses nearby, people hung out white sheets saying: “Thank you for saving our homes” and other messages of support for the weary fire battalions.

“You’d think we’re in California, it’s gigantic… And they’re used to forest fires here but we’re being overwhelmed on all sides — nobody could have expected this,” Remy Lahlay, a firefighter deployed near Hostens in the Landes de Gascogne natural park, told AFP.

With temperatures in the region hitting nearly 40C on Thursday and forecast to stay high until at least Sunday, “there is a very serious risk of new outbreaks” for the Landiras fire, the prefecture of the Gironde department said.

Acrid smoke has spread across much of the southwestern Atlantic coast and its beaches that draw huge crowds of tourists each summer, with the regional ARS health agency “strongly” urging people to wear protective face masks.

The smoke also forced the closing of the A63 motorway, a major artery toward Spain, between Bordeaux and Bayonne.

The government has urged employers to allow leaves of absence for volunteer firefighters to help fight the fires.

Meanwhile, in Portugal, more than 1,500 firefighters were also battling a fire that has raged for days in the mountainous Serra da Estrela natural park in the centre of the country.

It has already burned 10,000 hectares, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

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