Wildfires raging through Sweden have exhausted local emergency services and Europe is sending hundreds of people to help contain multiple blazes across the country. Sources: Bloomberg, DW
France, Germany and Denmark have dispatched more than 100 firefighters while Poland is sending 139 people to help battle some of the worst forest fires Sweden has ever seen, amid soaring temperatures and a lack of rainfall.
There are currently about 50 fires burning through Sweden’s forests. The country has also received assistance from Italy, France and Portugal in the form of water-bombing aircraft, while Norway, Germany and Lithuania have sent helicopters.
While the fires have destroyed vast tracts of forestland and forced forestry companies to halt harvesting for fear of sparking fires, the heatwave is also causing huge problems for the farming industry.
The fires have raised questions about the impact of climate change and whether the extreme heat is the new normal. That’s raised concerns about Sweden’s ability to tackle such crises.
Sweden’s Forest Agency estimates that some 600 million kronor ($68 million) worth of forest has burned or been damaged by the fires, as of July 19.
Five days of unabated fires have destroyed more than 800 hectares (2000 acres) of land in western Latvia. The Baltic nation is the latest to succumb to the heat and drought waves that have plagued northern Europe this summer.
Latvia has not yet requested assistance from its European neighbors, and authorities say they do not plan to do so but sustained extreme temperatures have greatly hampered local firefighters’ efforts.
Latvian fire services spokesman Inta Palkavniece told reporters that a peat fire had begun last week in the western region of Courland, which has since spread east, and acknowledged that conditions to fight its advance are unfavorable.
