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Poland offers help as forest fire rages in Czech Republic

26.07.2022 14:00
Poland will send a firefighting helicopter to help put out a blaze ripping through the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the northwestern Czech Republic, officials said on Tuesday.
Audio
Poland is sending a firefighting helicopter to help put out a blaze in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the northwestern Czech Republic, officials said on Tuesday.
Poland is sending a firefighting helicopter to help put out a blaze in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the northwestern Czech Republic, officials said on Tuesday. Image by Ylvers from Pixabay

The forest fire broke out on Sunday morning, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

By Monday night, it had spread over 300 hectares, the Czech government said. 

The local Fire and Rescue Service stated that around 140 people were evacuated from the surrounding areas on Monday night as “firefighting activity intensified.”

Smoke billowing from the giant fire on the Czech-German border could be seen in other parts of the Czech Republic, witnesses said. 

As the firefighting operation continued, Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakušan asked neighbouring Slovakia for assistance. 

Help from Poland

Meanwhile, Poland has offered to help with putting out the blaze, the head of the country’s Fire Service, Gen. Andrzej Bartkowiak, said on Tuesday.

Bartkowiak later confirmed that the government in Prague had accepted the Polish offer. 

Bartkowiak said: “Today Polish firefighters and policemen will help with the fire fighting effort, using a Black Hawk helicopter and the Bambi helicopter bucket.”

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAPbloomberg.com

Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.