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 faced a formidable wildfire engulfing Belgium's most extensive nature reserve, with the inferno labeled as the nation's most devastating in recent memory. Authorities instructed residents to evacuate two adjacent towns as the flames engulfed a third of the High Fens, a region local officials warned could spread to homes.
Water-bombing aircraft and helicopters from across Europe were dispatched to support the firefighters laboring within the park situated near its eastern frontier with Germany. This blaze joined a string of wildfires raging across Europe on Saturday, including a forest fire in southwestern France that prompted hundreds of residents to flee their homes.
Regional authorities in Wallonia, Nicolas Yernaux, spokesperson for the local government, declared the fire the country's most significant 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, with a nearby gymnasium opened to house those displaced by the blaze.
The challenge faced by authorities was exacerbated by adverse weather conditions and the park's terrain, characterized by bog-like terrain, moorland, and forests. In a bid to limit the fire's spread, firefighters had permitted segments of the heathland to burn due to the area's inaccessibility.
Gregory Melotte, one of the firefighters battling the inferno, informed 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." The flames were advancing, and the wind had altered its direction twice, once working in their favor and subsequently against them.
The European Union activated its civil protection mechanism to solicit reinforcements from other countries. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib announced that two Swedish water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were en route.
Meanwhile, local officials in France reported that 650 residents evacuated their homes as a wildfire scorched the Landes region in southwestern France. The fire ignited on Thursday and reignited on Saturday, with over 500 firefighters combating the blaze. Forest fires have also surfaced in Croatia, Spain, and Serbia since Friday, following a summer marked by extreme heat, leading to numerous blazes and scorched landscapes across Europe.
The EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus, affirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.
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