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HEATWAVE

Stable night for Sweden wildfires after rainfall

Areas affected by major wildfires were stable overnight, due in part to rainfall on Saturday.

Published: 29 July 2018 13:13 CEST
Stable night for Sweden wildfires after rainfall
Fire hoses running alongside a forest road in Ljusdal. Photo: TT

Gävleborg, a county north of Stockholm which has seen particularly severe blazes, was continuing firefighting work without the use of support from aircraft, TT reports.

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskaps, MSB) will now focus on the next stage of its work to extinguish fires after the night saw stabilisation of the situations in Jämtland and Dalarna as well as in Gävleborg, MSB’s deputy director Mikael Tofvesson said at a press conference on Sunday morning.

“We have received notification from Gävleborg that they do not need support from the air at this stage,” Tofvesson said.

Due high and increasing risk of wildfires in southern Europe, two French firefighting aircraft that have assisted with the Swedish efforts will now return home, the deputy director confirmed.

“The French aircraft will return home on Tuesday. Their last operational day will be on Monday,” he said.

Once fires are extinguished, responsibility for observation of the areas will be returned to landowners.

“We must also look at how we will manage the next phase. We are working on several levels to assess this issue and the related risks,” Tofvesson said.

County authorities in Västmanland, which suffered devastating forest fires in 2014, will meet with MSB to discuss its experiences with post-wildfire management, he added.

A blaze in Torslanda Municipality yesterday, however, showed that wildfires are still able to spread quickly given the right conditions. A bolt of lightning is thought to have set off the fire, which began spreading quickly in a new direction after a change in wind conditions.

In other parts of the country, as many as 27 wildfires were still active as of Sunday morning according to SOS Alarm, despite the much-needed rain that fell in some places on Saturday.

More rain is forecast on Sunday in some affected areas including Hälsingland, but for others, such as Älvedalen, the prognosis is more uncertain, meteorological agency SMHI said.

READ ALSO: Sweden wildfires spark criticism of forest industry

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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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