Notes by Axbom

Tagged: Twitter

Per Axbom Twitter

Sorry, I can never resist a good pun and had to get in on the action...

Dude, Whereā€™s My Tsar?
The Bolshevik Club
Pravda in Pink
The Kazakstan Kid
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Duma
The Babushka Brothers
Stand By KGB
A Comrade Orange

#TrumpAndPutinAMovie

Cossack to the Future
Comrades of the Lost Ark
Desperately Seeking Sputnik
The Lost Boyars
Dead Pravda Society
The Pravda Bride
Gosbankbusters
Commie Dearest
Why Wouldnā€™t I Lie?

#TrumpAndPutinAMovie

šŸ”— Originally posted on Twitter

Per Axbom Twitter

In other news, Sweden has had a massive heatwave (still ongoing) and this is a map of all current fires in nature. Firefighters are right now putting out 20-30 land fires a day.

Image source: facebook.com/brandforsvaretā€¦

Two water bombing planes have arrived from Italy to focus on two fires - one has technical issues. More aerial firefighters have been requested from the EU. The situation is serious... šŸ˜¬

(Images of water bombing plane and helicopter from Pixabay)

The fact that Sweden can call on resources from other EU countries to assist in the firefighting is thanks to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, the operational unit of EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

Swedish article: di.se/ledare/arvid-aā€¦

Hereā€™s an English article on the situation. nytimes.com/2018/07/19/worā€¦

Latest news on #SwedenWildfires in more languages:

Radio Sweden with the latest updates on Sweden's wildfires in in English, Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Somali and Kurdish.

sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aā€¦

#skogsbrand

A brief summary of the #SwedenWildfires by @wef

x.com/wef/status/101ā€¦

#skogsbrand

Of course I had to write an opinion piece on the matter. Just canā€™t keep my mouth shut...

In Swedish: svt.se/opinion/det-arā€¦

Since Sweden requested the support of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) we have from
Italy: 2 ff* planes
France: 2 ff and 1 reconnaissance planes
Germany: 5 ff helicopters
Lithuania: 1 ff helicopter
Poland: 2 ground forest ff with vehicles modules.

*ff=firefighting
>>

>> It would of course have bee unviable for the small country of Sweden to own and maintain this type of arsenal and personnel locally. These resources are coordinated by ERCC, the EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre.

#skogsbrand

Message from the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management. Last night there were 83 ongoing wildfires in Sweden. Austria and Portugal are also now sending resources.

x.com/stylianideseu/ā€¦

#skogsbrand

To put things in perspective: the average annual area of burnt land in Sweden has been 1,900 hectares* over the past 20 years. The wildfires in the past two weeks have covered an area of more than 30,000 hectares.

*This includes a 13,800 hectare fire in 2014.

And why am I tweeting so much about these fires (besides it being a major crisis)? Because we have our election coming up on September 9 and the disinformation is off the charts. Yes, right-wing figures are claiming muslims are sneaking into the woods and starting these fires. šŸ˜–

Also, mainstream media are not doing the best of jobs in explaining how firefighting in Sweden works and how this compares to other fires. šŸ˜”

These wildfires are not a viable political blame game. At this scale it would've been unfeasible for anyone to predict and locally maintain resources to manage. We could have prepared for fires five times the size of a normal season and that wouldn't be enough. #skogsbrand

Here's a chart from recent research on Sweden wildfires. The 2014 fire I mention above is clearly visible. Ongoing fires are already more than twice as bad.

Complete study: msb.se/RibData/Filer/ā€¦

Reading between the lines fires like this weren't expected until end of 21c.

To everyone saying Sweden should have bought its own firefighting plane. Sure, fine. Even if that's the case the wildfire problem we are seeing is way way way beyond the capacity of a plane. Let's instead talk about why they are spreading so fast. >>

>> Forests in Sweden are mostly coniferous (e.g. pine trees that burn quickly) and firebreaks are obviously not working (either poorly planned or poorly maintained).

#skogsbrand

Biggest problem is of course, as always, humans. Humans are leaving disposable bbq grills in nature. Humans are tossing cigarette butts and leaving broken glass. Humans have done this always, but it pairs especially poorly with extreme heat and no rain.

Sidenote:If you're here curious about wildfires, you may also get a kick out of the Wikipedia article explaining how wildfires are actually important to certain ecosystems and wildlife; and fire suppression can also cause problems: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ecolā€¦

I am now collecting and updating facts and a timeline regarding #SwedenWildfires on this web page.

axbom.eu/skogsbrand-2018 (Swedish)

#skogsbrand

x.com/sasjabeslik/stā€¦

Some numbers:
~43 ongoing wildfires
~15 are not under control

4 can not be put out without a drastic weather change. Despite international support they can only be contained, not put out.

Things will get worse and people have been working around the clock.

Map of ongoing wildfires in Sweden, updated 20 minutes ago. The single biggest fire is about twice the total size of Manhattan.

#SwedenWildfires #skogsbrand
#ClimateChange

Source: sosalarm.se/trender--analyā€¦

Here is an enlightening page from the EU: Fighting forest fires in Europe, how it works. europa.eu/rapid/press-reā€¦

#skogsbrand

When speaking of the wildfires I believe it's important to understand how big Sweden is. These images may be of some help. I used #MapFight to generate these.

#skogsbrand #SwedenWildfires
mapfight.appspot.com

Just published is my take on the wildfires, in English!

ā€Sweden's wildfires are everyone's businessā€

x.com/thelocalswedenā€¦

#skogsbrand #swedenwildfires

And here is @TheLocalSwedenā€™s landing page for content about #SwedenWildfires:

thelocal.se/tag/heatwave+2ā€¦

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) believes it will get worse before it gets better.

#SwedenWildfires

x.com/krisinformatioā€¦

Wildfires in Greece are now out of control. 50 lives claimed. Worst fires in over a decade. Greece has also activated EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-eurā€¦

What does it look like when the water-bombing planes drop water? Here is a video from June 15 in Nacka, Sweden.

x.com/wschuttelaar/sā€¦

Copernicus is the European Union Earth Observation Programme. They help in assessing the impact of ongoing fires:

x.com/CopernicusEU/sā€¦

Satellite pictures of fires north of the Arctic Circle:

x.com/CopernicusEU/sā€¦

From Sunday. As 140 firefighters were arriving from Poland and driving upwards towards the fires, people along the roads were out to welcome them, including local fire departments. Some were in tears.

#SwedenWildfires

x.com/MobergsR/statuā€¦

Despite many hundreds of kilometres on the road, and the hard work ahead of them, Polish firefighters were smiling and waving back at the crowds.

x.com/Boddan/status/ā€¦

Footage from inside one of the firefighting planes: x.com/eu_echo/statusā€¦

A reminder to everyone in Sweden: no barbequing, no smoking in forest and fields, and ALSO no working with machinery that can overheat and generate sparks!

#SwedenWildfires #skogsbrand

Great information video on Copernicus, the satellite system that is helping us Sweden with maps of the fires. youtube.com/watch?v=MGJss4ā€¦

#SwedenWildfires #skogsbrand

With both Latvia and Greece now also activating the EU Civil Support Mechanism rumours say EU resources may not be enough. But in reality, this is exactly why we need ERCC coordination.

#EUCivPro #skogsbrand

x.com/StylianidesEU/ā€¦

Denmark have prolonged the stay of their 60 firefighters in Sweden to at least August 5.

x.com/BRSdk/status/1ā€¦

#SwedenWildfires

šŸ”— Originally posted on Twitter