During Saturday, several fires raged in forests and land and SMHI warns of continued fire risk in almost the entire country. MSB has during Sunday 14 fire-fighting helicopters and four water-scooping planes on standby to assist the rescue service where needed.
It is one of the unusual cases. We should always have at least ten helicopters at our disposal, but since the fire risk is so large, we have made the decision to have more, says Anna Wennerström.
These are spread out across the country, with the most in the north where the fire risk is greatest.
Then we can come to move, scale down or scale up the resources as the fire risk changes.
According to Anna Wennerström, Sweden's ability to handle forest fires is significantly better now than a few years ago – something she links to a widespread, airborne preparedness.
But also that the threshold is low for activation of helicopters and planes.
The cooperation with other EU countries, she also means is a significant piece of the puzzle in preparedness.
The civil protection system is built so that we help each other. Our planes are partially EU-funded so we help other countries when needed, and they can help us.
