Fire near Estonian border put out

She added that the forest's managers, namely the state-owned Latvijas Valsts meži will continue monitoring the scene.

An area of 240 hectares burned out, including 12.7 hectares of forest.

"This is one of the rare cases when the cause of the fire has already been discovered. It was caused by a lightning strike into a dried out tree," said Šulce.

The fire erupted on July 31, with the area spreading rapidly to 220 hectares by August 2. It was contained on August 4.

It took place at a NATURA 2000 protected area, and Estonia and Lithuania helped Latvia to put the fire out.