Forest fires in southern Norway diminish

forest fire forest firesForest fire. Photo: Statens skogbrannhelikopter / NTB scanpix

Forest fires in southern Norway diminish

The many forest fires that have ravaged South Norway in recent days are now under control or put out. In many places, there is still some smoke and smouldering.

 

In southern Norway, there are still large crews called out to control the remaining fires in the area.

In Sirdal in Vest-Agder, fire-fighters received help from the weather gods on Tuesday evening after considerable amounts of rain extinguished much of the fire. There are no visible flames left, but a lot of smoke and smouldering still, writes Stavanger Aftenblad.

– We have received assistance from both the Civil Defense and the Flekkefjord Fire Department, says commander in Sirdal Fire and Rescue Service, Ivar Skreå. On Tuesday morning, 20 rested people were deployed.

Good Control

– We have had a good night with promising conditions. It has been quite cool and there is a lot of dew on the ground. Today we are going to use the equipment we have flown in and we have access to water, says Skreå, who expects the fire to be under control sometime during the day.

The leader of Operations in Setesdal, Torleif Homme, tells Fædrelandsvennen that they have control of all the nine fires that have flared up in Setesdal. Despite several lightning strikes on Tuesday night, neither forest nor grass was ignited.

The plan is to start with the cleanup after the fires on Wednesday morning.

Evacuees going home

Eight households In Hedmark were evacuated after the powerful fire at the Vermund Lake. An area of about 300 square meters was affected, but firefighters were already in control of the fire on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning seven of the eight evacuated households were able to move back home again, according to NRK.

The fire service is busy with quenching after the fire and monitors the area due to the risk of the fire resurrecting.

In Akershus, fire-fighters are busy with quenching after the fires near Losby in Lørenskog and in Hurdal. On Wednesday morning, another fire was reported at Aurskog-Høland, but this is of a much smaller calibre and the fire-fighters have therefore sent only one vehicle to the area to control and quench it, writes Romerikes Blad.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today