On Monday, the emergency services struggled to extinguish fires in forests and fields in several parts of the country. Among other things, there has been a fire outside Åryd, east of Växjö in Småland, in Vrinneviskogen in Norrköping and in Åndåsen north of Älvros in Härjedalen.
On the island of Storö just outside Unnaryd in Hylte municipality, there is a fire. The fire is not under control at 18 p.m. and the emergency services fear that it may spread to more islands.
During the fire in Småland, two helicopters helped in the extinguishing work by fetching water from Lake Åryd.
"It's incredibly dry out in the ground. The fire risk is very high. It's powder dry," says Andreas Rosenberg, duty response leader at Värend's rescue service.
The emergency services in Östergötland and Härjedalen also warn that it is extremely dry in the soil, and SMHI has issued warnings for grass and forest fires. In some places, the risk right now is extremely high.
Looks to be hot summer
The weather this summer looks set to be unusually warm. According to SVT's overview, the high pressures will change each other between June and August, which will increase the risk of forest fires. At the same time, as SVT News has previously reported, there is a shortage of part-time firefighters throughout Sweden, which affects preparedness.
Fire bans in many places
The drought, combined with the fact that the warm weather seems to be continuing, has led many county administrative boards to decide on fire bans. In Stockholm County, Jönköping County, Örebro County and Västra Götaland there is a fire ban.
The admonition: Take care when grilling
The experienced disaster coordinator and fire engineer Lars-Göran Uddholm recently came up with the call not to take open fires out into the forest and land:
"We don't need to extinguish a fire that hasn't started.
The National Day weather looks to be fine in parts of the country and there are therefore things to keep in mind, says SVT's meteorologist Nils Holmqvist.
"You shouldn't run out with your disposable barbecue in the woods. In May, we received half as little precipitation as usual, so the fire risk is great," he says.
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Meteorologists are already flagging that it could be a dry summer – with an increased risk of forest fires as a result. Fire Chief Lars-Göran Uddholm believes that it could be like the summer of 2018, but that Sweden is better equipped now. Photo: SVT