The blaze started on Thursday and flared up again on Friday. Firefighers have been battling the flames around the clock, but have so far been unable to stop the fire from spreading, Swedish Radio Västmanland reports. To try and contain the blaze, they have back burnt a stretch of land serving as a firebreak, and helicopters are water bombing areas where the fire is still spreading.

Yesterday, the fire department had unexpected help from a helicopter team on their way home from a fire on the West coast. "They arrived at the very moment that we experienced an engine failure at the military helicopter, so we've had six or seven helicopters in the air last night and hopefully today too," Göran Cederholm, at the Sala emergency rescue services, tells Swedish Radio.

Cederholm says it is likely that it will take until Monday or Tuesday for them to have the fire under control. "It's very dry here and we haven't seen a single drop of rain yet."

Local police warns people not to get to close to the area and not to bother firefighters. "People are getting very close and there is a heightened risk for falling trees in the whole area affected by the fire," the police writes in an online comment.