This year, the fire season started early in Sweden, with drought especially in the southern part of the country already in April-May.
But we haven't seen any exceptionally large fires so far.
Sweden has nevertheless faced a situation similar to the summer of 2018, when around 25,000 hectares of forest were affected by several large fires.
- Preparedness has been stepped up a lot since 2018. It was realized that there was work to be done, says Anders Granström, who researches forest fires at SLU.
Helicopters and firefighting aircraft
One of the most important things that has happened since the fires in 2018 is that the state now supports rescue services with helicopters and airplanes for firefighting.
Sweden had no firefighting aircraft of its own in 2018 – today it has four.
- It is a good system with a fairly large number of helicopters that are on standby in different parts of the country depending on where the risk is high.
And so they can be deployed at short notice when needed, says SLU researcher Anders Granström.
Even at the local level, the rescue services are better equipped.
- On the one hand, we have gained more insight and information on how to read the weather, ground conditions and so on, and on the other hand we have had more contact with forest companies that work in the forest with machines, says Leif Gäfvert, who was the task leader at the forest fires in Ljusdal in 2018.
In the clip, you hear the researcher, MSB and the forestry company SCA about how preparedness has improved.