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In numbers: The scale of Sweden's wildfires and the efforts to contain them

The Local Sweden
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In numbers: The scale of Sweden's wildfires and the efforts to contain them
A helicopter drops water on one of the fires. Photo: Mats Andersson / TT

Wildfires are burning in dozens of locations across Sweden, with hundreds of people evacuated from their homes as a result and thousands involved in the firefighting effort. Here's a look at the wildfire situation in numbers.

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61

That was the number of fires burning across the country on Friday afternoon, according to SOS Alarm. 

The number has been in fluctuation, with dozens of blazes being tackled simultaneously from north to south and west to east.

4

On Friday, the Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) warned that four of the fires were too big to be extinguished. The serious blazes in question are all located in central Sweden: Fågelsjö/Lillåsen in Jämtland, Kårböle in Gävleborg, Trängslet in Dalarna and Brattsjö in Västernorrland.

300-500

According to the MSB, the number of people who have been evacuated is between 300 and 500. The evacuations have affected small towns and villages in Gävleborg, Jämtland, Dalarna and Västerbotten.

READ MORE: Here's where evacuations are taking place due to wildfires

1,000

The approximate number of firefighters involved in battling the flames. That includes around 300 in Ljusdal, 250 in Jämtland, and 100 in Dalarna, according to the TT newswire. 

They are being assisted by the Armed Forces and thousands of civilians, who have been volunteering their time and donating supplies. Find out how volunteers have been helping here.

20,000

MSB says the wildfires cover a total area of over 20,000 hectares. This is already a bigger area than that affected by the 2014 forest fire in Västmanland, which at the time was the country's largest forest fire in several decades.

600 million 

The Swedish Forestry Agency has estimated that 600 million kronor worth of damage has been caused to woodland by the fires, with around 2 million square metres of forest destroyed.

12,148

This is the number of calls made to the emergency number 112 on Thursday, according to SOS Alarm. The number of calls has been between around 9,000 and 12,000 each day for the past week, reaching a peak of over 13,000 on Saturday. 

12

The number of Important Messages to the Public (VMAs) which were active as of Friday afternoon. These included evacuation notices as well as calls to members of the public in smoke-affected areas to stay inside and keep doors and windows closed. On Thursday, the number of active VMAs reached 13, which authorities said was a record for Sweden.

To read the latest on the wildfire situation, including evacuations and how to volunteer to help, click here for all The Local's coverage.

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