Sweden asks for EU help to fight forest wildfires

Dozens of wildfires raged across woodland in Sweden yesterday, prompting Stockholm to ask for emergency European Union help to fight the blazes which are the result of an extreme heatwave.

Even northern Swedish Lapland, inside the Arctic Circle, has been affected by unusually hot weather.

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency said two Italian fire-fighting aircraft had been sent to assist in central Sweden, while Norway had dispatched six helicopters.