FMI issues high-degree forest fire warning

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has issued a forest fire warning for almost the entire country excepting a few areas in Lapland, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

The FMI authorities warned the people to refrain from setting fire in open public places to avoid forest fire as the forest fire assessing index has reached the all-time high of 5.5 out of the maximum level of 6 all over the country.

The few areas in Lapland that remained out of the fire warning now have a grass fire warning in effect, and the warning is fared to be upgraded into a forest fire warning next week, if the dry condition remains unchanged, said the report quoting FMI.

Although the Meteorological Institute rated the warning index at 5.5 in many areas in the south and middle parts of the country, the Oulu-Koillismaa region’s rescue services unit on Saturday afternoon said Finland’s forest fire index is approaching an historic high of 6.0, said the Yle report.

The FMI assessment of the forest fire index is done based on humidity, temperature, wind velocity, solar radiation, and rainfall.