I asked Anders Edstam, the rescue coordinator of the Swedish “Civil defence” what kind of lessons they have learned from the big forest fires in the past. Sweden is in an alert situation now. Forest fires are expected in the south of the country

“In short, a number of measures have been taken, I will try to summarize them below

Awareness. Compared to before 2014 and 2018, we now have a greater awareness that we too can have extensive forest fires. In drier weather, both the municipal rescue service and we in the state are more on our toes and mobilize more heavily in order to quickly control fires that arise.

Sweden is introducing its own fleet of flying resources for forest firefighting from 2019. This season it consists of 4 scooping aircraft (of which two are financed within rescEU), and up to 10 light helicopters. The number of helicopters that are put on standby and their position are decided on a weekly basis. For example, this week we have six helicopters distributed in southern Sweden.

The ability to lead and coordinate rescue operations has improved. The investigations into the fires from 2014 and 2018 identified significant deficiencies in the ability to manage multiple simultaneous or large complex events, especially in the smaller fire departments. The state has therefore, through changed legislation and expanded requirements in regulations, forced the municipalities to be part of a regionalized management structure that ensures management capacity even in more stressful situations. Today, there are 18 rescue management regions in Sweden.”