Slovakia has sent a helicopter across the border to the Czech Republic to help fight a massive fire in the Bohemian Switzerland national park.
The helicopter departed on Wednesday morning, the Presidium of the Fire and Rescue Corps confirmed for the TASR newswire, but Slovak firefighters had already arrived in the Bohemian Switzerland park on Tuesday.
More than 400 firefighters from seven Czech districts as well as from Slovakia and Poland, are currently fighting to bring the fire, which began on July 24, under control as winds complicate the situation on site, TASR reported.
Firefighters have begun felling trees to stop the flames spreading.
Forest fires plague Slovakia too
This comes as fire alerts remain in place in many forest areas in Slovakia, too. Fires broke out in the Slovenský Raj, Veľká Fatra national parks and parts of the Tatra National Park (TANAP) over the past week.
“When there is an acute lack of rain, grasslands and forests tend to catch fire and [fires] spread faster. A single poorly extinguished cigarette or campfire is sometimes enough to start a large forest fire that causes damages worth millions,” the State Nature Protection recently warned, as quoted by TASR.
In some districts, authorities have temporarily banned entry to forests. In the north and east, in Poprad, Spišská Nová Ves, Kežmarok, Košice and in TANAP, hiking, camping, forest fruit picking and cycling is not allowed, though marked hiking and cycling routes are exempt from the ban.
