Sweden's air force employed an unusual tactic to try and put out a wildfire — dropping a bomb on it!
Sweden's air force employed an unusual tactic to try and put out a wildfire — dropping a bomb on it!
The blaze had been burning at a military training area for nearly two weeks in Älvdalen, 300 kilometres north-east of Stockholm.
The presence of undetonated ammunition in the military-controlled zone meant it was too dangerous for firefighters to work on foot and efforts to put the flames out with water bombs from the air had not been successful.
"It's an attempt to remove the oxygen from the fire, which is only a possibility because the fire is on a military shooting range," rescue chief Johan Szymanski told state broadcaster SVT.
According to Szymanski, the effect of the bombs so far has been good and part of the fire has been extinguished.
He did not rule out the possibility of using saved snow from nearby mountain range facilities to help control the boundaries of the fire, he told SVT.
Sweden is suffering severe wildfires and several regions have been evacuated.