Forest Fire in Uppvidinge: Controlled Burn Spirals Out of Control

The County Administrative Board of Kronoberg initiated a controlled conservation burn on Wednesday. By Thursday, the fire was out of control and had spread due to strong winds.

"In hindsight, it's extremely unfortunate that it has come to this," says Pär Stensson, chief of rescue services.

On Wednesday, the Kronoberg County Administrative Board decided to conduct a conservation burn in the Kärngölsområdet nature reserve in Uppvidinge, Småland. The burn proceeded as planned, covering the intended 56 hectares.

However, by morning, it was clear that a "flare-up" had occurred—sparks from the conservation burn had spread, causing a forest fire in an unintended area, as first reported by Smålandsposten.

"Several hectares are burning, and it's very difficult to assess the extent due to the heavy smoke," says Pär Stensson, rescue leader.

Conservation burns are common and usually coordinated between county boards and rescue services. The rescue services were not present during Wednesday's burn.

"We've had ongoing dialogue with the county board during previous burns this year, and we've been on-site with drones. I informed them yesterday that we couldn't be present to monitor this time due to capacity issues. I urged them to adhere to the current fire risk assessments and make a qualified decision on whether to proceed," says Pär Stensson.

He estimates that firefighting efforts will continue for at least the next day, but the situation could worsen due to weather conditions.

"It will remain windy, and it's expected to get even warmer and drier tomorrow and Saturday. We don't have the weather on our side."

County Board: "Incident in the Aftercare"

Jesper Witzell, head of the nature conservation management unit at the county board, says it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong.

"We will conduct a thorough analysis of the situation to learn from this. The burn started at noon yesterday, and by 10 PM, the area was burned and the safety zone was established as planned. Everything went according to plan."

But by 9 AM on Thursday, it was discovered that the fire had spread beyond the safety zone.

"A reasonable assumption is that the wind picked up after the night and blew sparks from yesterday's fire over the safety zone," he says.

According to Witzell, no procedures were breached.

"The burn proceeded as intended, but there was an incident in the aftercare."

Could this have been prevented?

"It's too early to say, especially for me as I'm not at the fire site. I've only spoken with those on the ground. But we will certainly conduct a thorough review of the incident."