The grassy river island is uninhabited, located just north of Tornio. Wildfire warnings are in effect in the region, as well as most of the rest of Finland.
A wildfire on an uninhabited river island in Lapland broke out on Saturday evening and spread across its grassy terrain all night long until Sunday morning, according to local rescue services.
“There’s clearly less smoke now than yesterday,” Lapland’s on-duty fire chief Lauri Manninen said at around 9am on Sunday.
Emergency services received a report about a wildfire on Likasaari island in the Tornio River at around 7:20 on Saturday evening.
The island is near Karunki, a village just under 25km north of Tornio. Just over 520km long, the Tornio River defines the border between Sweden and Finland.
However, the fire department did not make attempts to extinguish the blaze, allowing it to burn itself out. The department has kept an eye on the situation to ensure that the fire did not spread to other islands or the riverbank.
Wildfire warnings are in effect in the region, as well as most of the rest of Finland, with the exception of some parts of Lapland. The Finnish Meteorological Institute’s wildfire warnings are in effect at least until Thursday, with affected areas expanding throughout the week.
