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Sweden Forest Fires

- ECHO Daily flash of 22/07/2018

  • As of the 21 July, Sweden reported 70 on-going fires in the country, up from 45 the day before. 15 fires are reported to be not under control.  In the north of the country, thunder and lightning in the afternoon resulted in approximately 35 more forest fires. The latest estimate for the area affected by forest fires in 30 000 ha. Though there was light, widespread rain last night, the weather prognosis for coming weeks is for more heat and drought. National authorities are preparing for a more prolonged operation in their efforts to contain the outbreaks.
  • Sweden activated the Union Civil Protection Mechanism on the 16 July and has since requested both aerial and ground forest fire fighting assistance. In response Italy and France have sent water bombing planes, Germany and Lithuania have sent water bombing helicopters, Poland and Denmark have sent ground forest fire fighting forces. A French offer of ground forces was accepted on 21 July, with the first contingent arriving tonight. The total response enabled through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism now counts five planes, six helicopters, 67 vehicles and 340 personnel. Further offers have been made by Austria, Portugal and Germany. Norway is supporting firefighting efforts with bilateral assistance.
  • In the past 24 hours Italian and French planes have conducted 223 water bombing drops tackling five large fires in the region of Gävleborg near the village of Kårböle where over 100 people have already been pre-emptively evacuated.
  • DG ECHO deployed a liaison officer on 20 July. An additional liaison officer will join the operation from today. Copernicus Emergency Rapid Mapping Service has produced 11 maps on request from Sweden, with four more currently in production.

Emergency Response Coordination Centre, echo-ercc@ec.europa.eu, +32 229 21112