Firefighters battle wildfire tearing through Belgian nature reserve
The fire burning through the major park was described as the country's worst in recent years.
Firefighters are battling a wildfire that has been raging through Belgium's largest nature reserve since Friday, with officials describing it as the country's most severe in recent memory.
On Saturday, the inferno consumed a third of the High Fens, prompting evacuation orders for two nearby villages. Local authorities expressed concern that the fire could spread to residential areas.
International assistance arrived from across Europe, with water-bombing aircraft and helicopters deployed to aid firefighters working in the park, situated near Belgium's eastern border with Germany.
This blaze is one of several wildfires currently active across Europe. In southwestern France, a forest fire led to the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
As of Saturday afternoon, Belgian officials reported that the fire remained uncontrolled. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the regional authorities in Wallonia, confirmed it was the nation's "largest in recent history."
"There is a risk that the fire could reach homes, but we are deploying all available resources to protect them," Yernaux stated, adding that a nearby gymnasium had been opened to shelter evacuees.
Authorities cited challenging weather conditions and the park's difficult terrain, which includes bog-like areas, moorland, and forests, as obstacles to their efforts. Yernaux explained that firefighters had "allowed parts of the heathland to burn because the area is very difficult to access."
Gregory Melotte, a firefighter on the scene, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF, "We managed to calm the fire coming from the plain, to prevent it from spreading into the fir forest. We still succeeded in our mission, but it's not over yet." He added, "The flames are coming towards us, the wind has shifted twice, once in our favour, once against us."
Belgium activated the European Union's civil protection mechanism to request international reinforcements. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib confirmed that two Swedish water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were en route.
Meanwhile, in Landes, southwestern France, 650 residents were evacuated due to a wildfire that began on Thursday and reignited on Saturday. Over 500 firefighters have been deployed to combat this blaze.
Since Friday, forest fires have also been reported in Croatia, Spain, and Serbia. This follows a summer of extreme heat that has left vast areas of land across Europe either ablaze or scorched brown. The EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.