The 2014 Västmanland wildfire was a
wildfire that broke out on the afternoon of 31 July 2014 on the border between
Sala Municipality and
Surahammar Municipality
Surahammar Municipality (''Surahammars kommun'') is a municipality in Västmanland County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Surahammar.
The municipality is located some 100 km west of Stockholm in the southern part of ...
in
Västmanland, Sweden. It is Sweden's largest wildfire in 40 years.
After an EU appeal, Italy and France provided firefighting aircraft.
On 4 August 2014, the evacuation of residents began in
Gammelby
Gammelby is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Eur ...
alongside Route 668 east of
Lake Virsbo,
Västervåla and
Ängelsberg
Ängelsberg () is a village situated in Fagersta Municipality, Västmanland County, Sweden with 144 inhabitants in 2005. It is famous for the Engelsberg Ironworks
Engelsberg Ironworks ( sv, Engelsbergs bruk) is an ironworks in ''Ängelsberg'', a ...
.
, over one thousand people were forced to evacuate their homes, and the town of
Norberg
Norberg () is a locality and the seat of Norberg Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 4,518 inhabitants in 2010. Best known for the Norbergfestival which is Scandinavias biggest electronic music festival, organized in an old iron ore ...
, with about 4500 residents, was being considered for evacuation. One person was confirmed killed by the fire near
Stabäck. The fire was declared a
national emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
. It encompassed over 15,000 hectares and was located northwest of
Sala.
[ The Swedish Armed Forces were mobilized, with about 100 personnel providing support to the firefighters as of 7 August.][
The wildfire threatened the UNESCO World Heritage Site Engelsberg Ironworks. The owners of the Ironworks, ]Nordstjernan
Nordstjernan () is a Swedish investment company. Nordstjernan is a fourth-generation family company controlled by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation. The origin is the shipping company Nordstjernan, which was founded in 1890.
Histo ...
, rented two helicopters of their own to water the area close to the site.
The Swedish police started a preliminary investigation of the cause of the fire, to see if it was caused by criminal negligence. According to local media, a driver of a ground-preparation vehicle stated that the fire started in his vehicle and that no fire watch was posted despite a very high risk of fire.
See also
* List of wildfires
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2014 Västmanland wildfire
2014 in Sweden
2014 wildfires
Västmanland County
Fires in Sweden
Natural disasters in Sweden
July 2014 events in Europe
August 2014 events in Europe
September 2014 events in Europe