Wildfires rage in Sweden after Easter heatwave

Around 50 hectares were still burning outside Gislaved in the south-eastern Småland region on Tuesday morning, with around 50 firefighters and volunteers drafted in to put it out.

Three fires in total have raged near the town since Easter Sunday and although the dry weather has caused a risk of wildfires, police are investigating if they may have been started deliberately.

Firefighters were also battling a blaze in a four-hectare area north of Motala in the Östergötland region on Tuesday morning.

Four wildfires near Kristianstad in southern region Skåne were extinguished by Monday evening.

Meanwhile in Stockholm, an 18th-century mansion in the Norsborg suburb was gutted in a fire on Monday afternoon. Nobody was injured, and it was not immediately known how the fire started.

National weather agency SMHI has issued a warning of an increased risk of grass and forest fires in southern and central Sweden – as far north as Uppsala, Dalarna and Gävle – in the next five days.

Vocabulary

volunteers – frivilliga

grass fire – gräsbrand

forest fire – skogsbrand

weather – väder

days – dagar

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