Rain aids fight against Belgium's biggest wildfire, as blazes rip through Europe
About 500 firefighters from Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg are battling the blaze, which has burned 3,000 hectares and may take months to extinguish.
- Rain over eastern Belgium on Monday brought relief to firefighters battling the country's biggest wildfire on record in the High Fens nature reserve, which has burned 3,000 hectares since Friday.
- High temperatures reaching 37 degrees Celsius sparked the fire on Friday, and because it penetrated metres-deep peat bogs, officials warned it could take months to fully extinguish.
- Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the administration of the Wallonia region, told Reuters, "We can't say that the fire is contained. It flares up all the time." Some 500 firefighters from Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg are battling the blaze with European Union aircraft.
- Across Europe, fires have killed more than 20 people and burned 576,000 hectares this year, an area twice the size of Luxembourg, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System.
- Extreme fire risk has become a regular feature of European summers as climate change intensifies drought, with experts noting that about 90% of wildfires are ignited by human activities and exacerbated by flammable vegetation buildup from rural abandonment.
43 Articles
43 Articles
The largest forest fire in Belgium for more than 100 years has destroyed an area of about 30 square kilometres in the nature reserve Hohes Venn near the German border and is not yet completely under control. Around 500 people are in use to contain the flames. Numerous residents had to leave the area. Commentators debate what consequences should be drawn across Europe.
Firefighters managed to completely contain Belgium's biggest forest fire in a century overnight, but the situation on the ground remains difficult due to several new outbreaks that broke out overnight, officials said on Wednesday.
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Belgium's King Philippe informed himself in the central crisis center near Liège about the great fire in the High Ven near the German border.
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