The first alarm that there had been a fire in the forest outside Österbybruk came at 3 pm on Saturday afternoon – then more came along the same railway stretch, with flames up to four meters high.
– It’s dry in the grass and there can sometimes be sparks from trains, says Oscar Davila, line operator at Rescue Center Mitt.
At 4:30 p.m., an area the size of two football fields was burning.
– It is still spreading. We have the help of the fire plane that flies along the train tracks to see if it has started to burn in more places.
Fire helicopters were called in
At 18.15, the rescue service announced that they had called in MCF’s helicopters as reinforcements.
– It is big and difficult to get around. It is inaccessible terrain with a mixture of arable land and forest, says Tommy Vollberg, line operator at Rescue Center Mitt.
Fires in the area around Kolhagen were then waterbombed and at 20:00, Rädningscentral Mitt announced that the fire had calmed down. Emergency services will remain for surveillance during the night.
There should be no buildings in the immediate vicinity to which the fire could spread.
Source: SVT News | Sat, 02 May 2026 16:39:38
