Forest fire blazes in southern Switzerland
A fire has ravaged some 450 hectares of forest near the alpine resort of Leukerbad, canton Valais, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes.
Fire fighters are bracing themselves for 45kmh winds that could fuel the blaze further.
On Thursday morning, only a few pockets of fire were still blazing and cantonal police declared the situation under control.
“But the problem is that we are expecting winds that could be very dangerous,” local journalist, Gabi Nanzer, told swissinfo.
Adding to officials’ concerns is that fact that the land around Leukerbad is very dry at the moment due to the current heatwave and the shortage of rain this year.
Rain is expected to fall this evening, but Nanzer said it would do little to help extinguish the blaze.
“The Valais is a very dry region and we’ve had such high temperatures over the last months so everything is very dry and so the situation is still alarming.”
Seven helicopters and more than 300 fire fighters are working now to beat back the fire, which cantonal police believe could have been ignited by a cigarette. One worker was admitted to hospital with slight injuries.
Rapid spread
The blaze began on Wednesday evening and rapidly spread to an altitude of 2,000 metres. Shortly before midnight, hundreds of people living in the nearby towns of Leukerbad, Wyler and Albinen had to be evacuated.
The weather in Switzerland is expected to cool later on Thursday, easing several months of hot and dry conditions. Nevertheless, the government warned that the danger of fires has not been this high in three decades.
Despite the fire near Leukerbad and a few other small fires across the country, the Swiss environment ministry said there had not been any more fires than usual this summer.
It said this was largely thanks to the considerate behaviour of the Swiss and new legislation protecting forests.
Switzerland has been spared the massive fires which have scorched neighbouring France and other countries like Portugal and Italy.
swissinfo with agencies
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