GENEVA, July 17 (Reuters) - Swiss police ordered the evacuation of several mountain villages late on Monday as a forest fire spread, while it was not immediately clear how many people were affected.
It later added that three other villages were to be evacuated and warned of rockfalls.
Air Zermatt, which operates four of the helicopters, said efforts to extinguish the fire would continue through the night.
Valais police posted pictures showing a helicopter dangling a water cannon above a forest fire in the afternoon.
loadingThe area is affected by the same Mediterranean heatwave affecting southern Europe, with temperatures set to exceed 30 Celsius in parts of the Valais canton this week, forecasts show.
Persons:
Emma Farge, Gabrielle Tetrault, Farber, Josie Kao
Organizations:
Swiss, Twitter, rockfalls, Air Zermatt, Thomson
Locations:
GENEVA, Valais, Ried, Morel, Brig, Air, Europe