The sun and heat mean that the risk of forest fires is high in large parts of the country – and extremely high in some parts of southern Sweden, MSB now announces.
– The forecast shows really high fire risk values that increase day by day. It is already high on Midsummer’s Eve but will be higher towards the end of the weekend, says Leif Sandahl, fire engineer at MSB.
The high risk is due to the early summer’s dry weather in combination with the midsummer heat that is expected.
– It has been dry most of the spring. Since then, there have been a few splashes of rain in recent weeks, but it does not suggest when it is so dry. So now that it gets really hot, it pumps up the risk, says Sandahl.
This applies to large parts of the country, but the greatest risk is in southern and south-eastern Sweden.
– Also along a large part of the Norrland coast. But the risk eats into the country, so it applies to a large part of the country, says Leif Sandahl.
Information on fire risk in a specific location can be found on the municipality’s, the county administrative board’s or the rescue service’s website. There is also information on whether there is a fire ban or not. Leif Sandahl suggests downloading MSB’s app Fire risk outside, which shows the fire risk in an area.
As of midsummer evening, MSB has a total of eight helicopters on standby in Luleå, Östersund, Västerås and Jönköping. There are also four scooping aircraft on standby at Skavsta Airport in Nyköping.
The helicopters are on standby in the places in the country where the risk of forest fires is greatest, says Roger Gustafsson, project manager at MSB’s operational department in a press release.
“If the rescue service requests support from MSB, they can be deployed at an early stage, which reduces the risk that the fires that occur grow into extensive and difficult-to-extinguish forest fires. We can use the same tactics for our scooping aircraft, ”he says.