Firefighters battle forest fire in Czech Republic for 5th day

Firefighters managed to stop the spread of a forest fire in a national park in northern Czech Republic, local media reported on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

Officials say that the blaze in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park has been contained to an area of about 1,000 hectares, and they suspect that the fire was started by humans.

The forest fire, which has been raging for five days, broke out on Sunday and started spreading on Monday due to windy weather. It even crossed the country's border with Germany.

Some 500 firefighters have been on the scene. Slovakia, Poland and Italy have sent firefighting aircraft to the Czech Republic to help contain the fire.

Several hundred people from Czech villages have been evacuated. No casualties have been reported so far, although local media reported that eight firefighters had been treated for minor abrasions or oxygen therapy.

As the fire is unlikely to spread further, Czech Environment Minister Anna Hubackova made the decision not to close the entirety of the park despite prior calls from the park administration.

Still, police are turning cars away near the fire, and areas affected by the blaze within the park remain inaccessible, according to Czech Television. Hubackova said that impacted areas of the park will be closed and local closures will likely persist based on the discretion of municipal officials.