Emergency Crews From Denmark Helping Greenland with Wildfires

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As scientists warn that Greenland is melting at a record pace, the island is relying on emergency services from outside its borders to help it extinguish a wildfire.

Denmark will send 38 firefighters to Greenland to help put out a fire near Sisimiut, in the western part of the island. The fire started in early July and is now approaching inhabited areas, according to officials there.

Authorities fear that the blaze, if not terminated immediately, will burn through the winter, causing serious damage to Greenland’s nature and melting additional ice in an area that is already affected by global warming.

According to a June report by the National Snow & Ice Data Center, “an extensive area” equivalent to about 80 billion tons of the Greenland Ice Sheet disappeared over a 10-day period that month.

The world’s largest island is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark. Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen said that decision to send fire fighters underpins “the close cooperation between Greenland and Denmark.”