Homes evacuated as firefighters battle wildfires in southern Sweden

Firefighters battling the major blaze at Hästveda in southern Sweden. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Homes had to be evacuated after a major forest fire broke out in southern Sweden.

The forest fire between Hästveda and Osby in Hässleholm municipality forced 47 people to leave their homes on Tuesday. Fire crews had one top priority overnight: contain the blaze within the perimeter.

"It has succeeded, with quite a bit of work. We are just about to step up our work this morning, with helicopters and crews on site," fire officer Johan Sjöberg told Swedish news agency TT.

It was not immediately clear exactly how large the fire was, but it was thought to be under control by Wednesday morning.

"It's in two parts. The fire started in a bog, and the work (to extinguish it) will probably take some time, I would think. It has also spread, and we've got that part contained at the moment, and think we will get quite far today in terms of putting it out," added Sjöberg.

A forest fire near Landvetter east of Gothenburg had been brought under control by 11pm on Tuesday and was not said to affect air traffic to Landvetter Airport. Fires near Hunnebostrand in the Bohuslän region, north of Traryd in Småland and north of Motala were also under control early on Wednesday.

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