Image copyright Rogaland Red Cross Image caption The Red Cross helped local officials evacuate homes around the town of Sokndal where the fires were most dangerous

Hundreds of people have had to leave their homes in Norway as emergency services try to extinguish forest fires raging in the south of the country.

Some 148 homes were evacuated around the town of Sokndal, where fires have been burning since Tuesday.

Police say the fires are still out of control and warn that heavy winds could help them to spread.

April is very early for forest fires in Norway, and experts have warned of a dramatic increase across the continent.

This month alone, wildfires have broken out in Sweden, Germany and the UK.

Fires in Europe "are way above the average" for this time of year, an official at the EU's European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) told the BBC.

"The season is drastically worse than those of the last decade."

The official added that a "very dry winter in most of Europe" and persistent drought had contributed to the rise in forest fires, and that the "long term forecast is not promising for an improvement".

'No fire control'

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Firefighters aided by helicopters worked on Wednesday to damp down the forest fires

Police in south-west Norway are still unsure what started the fires, which have burned some 7.5 sq km (2.9 square miles) of land near Sokndal, 100km (62 miles) south-east of the coastal city of Stavanger.

As well as evacuating residents, rescue services spent the night soaking land in surrounding areas in an effort to stop the fire from spreading.

But they fear that expected winds of nine to 11 metres per second could cause the fire to move into neighbouring districts.

"The wind is still a challenge and will become an even greater challenge if it increases. It's still burning heavily, and there is no fire control," said south-west police official Toralf Skarland.

Police said there had been no reports of casualties but warned people to avoid the area.

Image copyright Norway Police handout Image caption This police map highlights in red where the fire is burning, while the green section shows evacuated areas

The Red Cross, which helped with the evacuation effort, told the BBC the blaze was close to farms, huts and small villages.

Fires were also burning around the town of Lyngdal in the neighbouring area, it said.

Other wildfires

Forest fires have broken out in several parts of northern Europe this month amid hot temperatures.

Dozens of people were evacuated from their homes when a blaze broke out in southern Sweden on Tuesday, but by Wednesday morning it was under control.

In Germany, crews battled fires over the Easter weekend and Germany's weather service warned Germans on Wednesday to expect a drought this year at least as severe as in 2018 if the current dry weather continued.

"The starting conditions for vegetation in 2019 are in many areas of Germany clearly worse than last year," said agriculture meteorologist Udo Busch.

A huge wildfire broke out in Moray, Scotland this week, which officials said would "take days" to put out.

Two fires also spread across moorland in West Yorkshire.

What about southern Europe?

The spate of forest fires in northern Europe contrasts with storms and torrential rain in the south.

A woman drowned when the car she was in was swept away by a flood in Tuscany on Tuesday, and a French tourist died in storms off Sardinia earlier this week.</s>A spate of spring wildfires in Sweden and Norway sparked memories of last year's historic forest fires, as firefighters brought most of the blazes under control on Wednesday.

A total of ten fires were of a "serious nature", a Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) spokesman told AFP.

Eight helicopters were being used to fight blazes in the south that were reported to be under control on Wednesday afternoon.

"They have them under control," MSB press secretary Marcus Årskog told Swedish news agency TT.

The most severe covered 300 hectares and broke out in Hässleholm municipality in southern Sweden, forcing 49 people to evacuate.

Last year a historically hot summer set a total of 25,000 hectares of forest ablaze in Sweden, almost ten times the yearly average, according to a government study.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Sweden's historic wildfire outbreak

MSB said the exact cause of the spring fires was not known but believed them to be the result of human activity, either from barbecues or forestry machines.

The sunny and warm spring weather had also made the fire risk unusually high for the season.

"The next few days look really bad," Anneli Bergholm Söder, head of operations at MSB, told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that more humid weather was expected for the weekend which would likely improve the situation.

MSB also said Sweden was much better equipped to deal with the fires this year, having taking a number of steps to improve its capacity to respond.

Among the measures were a system with different private contractors, making up to 30 helicopters available for water bombing.

However, Brandmännens riksförbund, a union representing firefighters in Sweden, said they were hampered by a lack of workers, and that around 2,800 full and part-time firefighters were needed for them to remain fully staffed over the summer, TT reported.

In neighbouring Norway, hundreds of hectares of forest were also destroyed by fires between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Local authorities announced they had largely contained the most threatening fire, which covered some 700 hectares in Norway's south-west around Sokndal.

No injuries were reported. Some 148 homes were evacuated but all residents returned by Wednesday afternoon after 150 firefighters and six helicopters were mobilized.

Norwegian Minister of Public Safety Ingvil Smines Tybring-Gjedde told TV2 she had "learned from the lessons" of the 2018 fires and helicopters and staff would be on constant alert during the summer.</s>In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, farmers are fearful at the start of the growing season following below-average rainfall earlier this year - bad news after last year's drought.

[BERLIN] Weather experts warn of drought in Europe over its summer as firefighters tackled forest fires on Thursday, and farmers fretted over wilting crops and a repeat of 2018's arid conditions.

In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, farmers are fearful at the start of the growing season following below-average rainfall earlier this year - bad news after last year's drought.

Unless significant rain falls in May, experts say there is little chance of decent crops.

"If the dry weather continues in the coming months, the drought of 2018 could be repeated or even exceeded," warned Udo Busch, head of the German weather service's agricultural section.

A lack of rain has turned some forests into potential tinderboxes.

Over the past few days, German firefighters have tackled blazing forest fires in the states of Hessen, Brandenburg and Thuringia.

A senior fire chief has even asked authorities, including the army, to lend helicopters in order to "react adequately".

Scandinavia has also been hit, with Swedish firefighters currently tackling 10 to 15 forest fires a day after precious little rain this month.

The most serious blaze broke out over 300 hectares in the southern district of Hassleholm, forcing 49 people to be evacuated.

Last year nearly 25,000 hectares of land was ravaged by fires in Sweden.

In neighbouring Norway, a forest fire narrowly missed the community of Sokndal, but around 70 firefighters were still extinguishing flames on Thursday over an area of 750 hectares.

Phil Hogan, the European Union's agriculture commissioner, on Thursday promised farmers and rural communities in member states will get EU support should drought strike again.

In the German state of Brandenburg, surrounding Berlin, barren fields resemble desert landscapes.

There are fears of a repeat of last year's poor harvest, when crops were down between 30 to 80 per cent, threatening the livelihoods of many German farmers.

Across Brandenburg's 780 farms, reported losses for 2018 topped 93 million euros (S$141.3 million) and the state had to provide 72 million euros in aid.

Rain is forecast for the coming days. But it is expected to be far insufficient for what is needed to mitigate a worrying situation.

"We sincerely hope for rain - the decisive month for us is May," said farmers' association spokesman Tino Erstling.

In neighbouring Austria, the first signs of drought have already appeared in the east and north, raising fears of another bleak harvest.

Rainfall is already down to just a quarter of the 10-year average in recent weeks.

Potato growers are demanding a relaxation of pesticide regulations to better control numbers of wireworm, which they say are flourishing because of drought.

"The current signs point to suffering for agriculture," said Hagelversicherung, a specialist insurance company.

The situation is even more shocking in the Czech Republic, where 99 per cent of the country has already been hit by drought over the last five weeks.

A third of the country is classed among the worst two drought categories on a six-level scale, according to the Intersucho (Interdrought) portal, which monitors drought in central Europe.

The drought has come a month earlier than last year.

In many Czech villages, the wells are already dry, forcing the population to find other ways to get water.

Forecasters predict rain this weekend which may help save some crops, but farmers remain sceptical.

Hardest hit will be the regions northwest of Prague, where hops crucial to the Czech beer industry are grown, and in the southeast, famous for its wine and grain.

A couple of windy days over the past weeks haven't helped as the wind has dried the top layer of soil.

The drought is also devastating Czech forests as it encourages breeding of the bark beetle with damage this year projected to top one billion euros.

The Czech Republic has been grappling with bark beetle infestation for several years and experts say the current situation is the worst in Czech history.
Police evacuate 148 homes in Sokndal, Norway. Wildfires have burned through about 7.5 square kilometers (2.9 sq. miles) of land in the area. A spokesperson for the European Union Forest Fire Information System says wildfires in northern Europe "are way above the average" for this time of year.