Nearly a thousand hectares of land burned in Hortobágy National Park – PHOTOS

Nagyiván, 2017. augusztus 4. Honvédségi helikopterrel oltják a lángokat 2017. augusztus 4-én a Hortobágyon, Nagyiván térségében, ahol több száz hektáron ég a Hortobágyi Nemzeti Park. Az augusztus 3-án délelõtt keletkezett tûz oltásán egész éjjel dolgoztak a tûzoltók, augusztus 4-én kora reggel két, 3 ezer liter víz szállítására alkalmas honvédségi helikopter is érkezett a helyszínre, hogy bekapcsolódjon az oltásba. MTI Fotó: Czeglédi Zsolt

Nearly a thousand hectares of land has been destroyed by wildfires burning in the Hortobágy National Park in eastern Hungary, a deputy spokesperson for Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County’s disaster management authority told MTI early on Friday.

Over 80 firefighters are fighting to put out the fires and they are being assisted by military water-dropping helicopters, Erika Szepesi said.

An area of undergrowth caught fire on Thursday and around 600 hectares of vegetation has been destroyed in the reedy, grassy areas, Dániel Mukics, deputy spokesman for the national disaster management authority, said. More than a thousand hectares of the national park is under threat from the fires, he said, adding that inhabited areas are were not in danger.

Fighting the fires has proven challenging because much of the area burning is swampy wetlands and some of these areas are impossible to access, Mukics added.