The fire started Sunday evening, and so far over 20 square kilometers (eight square miles) of bush and forests have been affected, Tormod Rostoel, head of operations at Rogaland Police District, told AFP.

As a precautionary move, families from four nearby homes were being evacuated from the village of Sandbeek, some 80 kilometers south of Stavanger on Norway's southwestern coast, Rostoel said.

He did not rule out that more people would have to be evacuated later.

Monday afternoon over 60 firefighters from nearby municipalities, as well as two helicopters, were fighting the forest fire, which he said was out of control.

Norway was hit by a number of forest fires during the Easter weekend, after a winter with little precipitation and unseasonably hot weather have made the bush and forests tinder dry.

SPACE.WIRE