Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński and State Fire Service chief Wojciech Kruczek visited the fire zone near the village of Międzyleś in the Wołomin district after an overnight briefing on firefighting operations.
Tusk said emergency crews had carried out "enormous work" through the night to combat the fire, which has burned through about 300 hectares of forest since breaking out on Thursday afternoon.
"The situation is much better than it was yesterday evening," Tusk told reporters. "But it is obviously too early to say that the situation is fully under control."
He said the glow from the fire had been visible from Warsaw, about 40 kilometres away.
Authorities said weather conditions, particularly wind speed and direction, would be crucial in determining whether firefighters could fully contain the blaze.
"A lot depends on the wind," Tusk said, while praising firefighters, volunteer rescue crews, police officers, Territorial Defence Force troops and State Forests personnel involved in the operation.
Tusk also said Slovakia had offered assistance, becoming the first country to contact Poland with a proposal to send help if needed.
"For now, such external assistance is not necessary," he said.
The prime minister said emergency services had carried out precautionary evacuations to protect residents and property near the fire zone.
He said there was "currently no direct threat" to local communities but urged residents to follow instructions from firefighters and police.
Kierwiński said nearly 800 firefighters, supported by more than 250 vehicles, had been deployed to battle the fire overnight.
More than 400 police officers and units from the Territorial Defence Force also took part in the operation.
"The situation is significantly better now, but everything depends on the wind," the interior minister said, adding that the next several hours would be critical.
Kruczek described the fire situation as stable but warned that wind gusts of up to 45 kilometres per hour could complicate firefighting efforts.
After a nighttime pause, firefighters resumed aerial operations on Friday morning with support from a Black Hawk helicopter, three helicopters operated by the State Forests agency and four Dromader firefighting aircraft, state news agency PAP reported.
Firefighters were being supported from the air by police aviation units using a Black Hawk helicopter equipped with a 3,000-litre water tank, officials said. Photo: PAP/Albert Zawada
The aircraft have already dropped around 400 cubic metres of water on the fire, significantly supporting ground operations, Kruczek said.
Additional specialised forest firefighting units and a firefighting company were being deployed to relieve crews that had worked throughout the night.
The fire was reported at around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. Officials said it was a "crown fire," meaning flames spread through the tops of trees, making containment more difficult.
(gs)
Source: TVP Info, IAR, PAP, polskieradio24.pl