The fire in Jokkmokk municipality started on Monday and is raging in an area of about 200 hectares.
One side of the fire is over three kilometers long, we do not have personnel or hoses so we can be around the whole, says Sofie Bergström, alarm and management manager at Rescue Cooperation North.
About 20 of the rescue service personnel are or have been on site from, among other places, Skellefteå, Piteå and Kiruna. The fire has been water-bombed with both planes and helicopters.
The difficult thing is that we cannot get there with vehicles, but must transport out personnel with helicopters.
The firefighters are forced to fight the flames with motor pumps from nearby waterways.
MSB currently has four fire-fighting helicopters on standby in Norrbotten County, while two helicopters each are placed in Västerbotten, Västernorrland and Västmanland counties. Four water-scooping planes are located in Södermanland County.
So far this year, 49 operations have been carried out nationally where MSB has activated one or more flying resources.
Hundreds of fires
During the past week, 280 fires have been registered in forests and land, according to MSB. The figure is preliminary and "fluctuates upwards quite quickly now".
Jenny Sander, administrator at MSB's unit for work with natural disasters and climate adaptation, notes that it is dry in forests and land.
Almost all fires have been caused by lightning. There has been thunderstorms passing over the country in several rounds, she says to TT.
Except for the fire in Jokkmokk, most seem to have been able to be put out relatively quickly.
The rescue services are incredibly skilled at going out early with strong resources. It is a strained situation, but they are very on their toes.
Precipitation is expected
More unstable weather is expected to move in over large parts of the country in the coming days, according to SMHI.
However, quite a lot of rain is needed to reduce the fire risk seriously, says Sander.
Even in Jokkmokk, one is looking to the sky. Precipitation is expected during the weekend and next week.
The plan is to try to limit the spread of the fire as much as possible while waiting for rain and hoping that the rain will dampen and extinguish large parts of the fire, says Sofie Bergström.
