Finland battles worst forest fire in 50 years

By AFP
August 01, 2021

Helsinki: Finland is battling its worst forest fire in half a century with some 300 hectares ravaged in five days in a northwestern valley during an exceptionally hot summer.

The fire began on Monday about 25 kilometres south of the small port town of Kalajoki in the Gulf of Bothnia. "It’s still burning, but it hasn’t got bigger, it’s limited to 300 hectares (nearly 750 acres)," Jarmo Haapanen, in charge of firefighting operations near Kalajoki, told AFP.