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The spruce and pine forests - my childhood haunts - are on fire.

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It has been so hot lately back home in (eastern)Norway that the lawns are looking singed and everything is tinder dry.

It didn't take much for fires to break out - 31 of them in a short space of time in the southern half of Norway, but the one back home is the biggest. Nothing compared to the big fires we see happening elsewhere in the world, but a bit unexpected so far north.

To start with the wind was blowing in all directions, making it difficult to control, but by a stroke of luck the wind changed direction completely before hitting the built up area just above my sister's. That would have been catastrophic. Norwegian houses are mainly of wooden construction.

The forests are beautiful. Norway is a relatively big country with few people (about 5 million), so has the luxury of lots and lots of countryside, natural forests and wildlife (why did I leave all those years ago again?), and it's a haven for children growing up.

We had a lot of fun in those woods. It's very sad.

It's still burning, but hopefully the worst is over. The inland lake nearby (the local 'swimming pool') came in very handy for water supply, both for on the ground dampening of the flames and for the helicopters' 'buckets'.

Fingers crossed that the wind doesn't pick up up again.