Firefighters successfully fought against a large wildfire that swept through a nature reserve in eastern Belgium and another on a Greek island near Athens. The fires resulted in two fatalities as scorching hot and dry conditions exacerbated the blazes across various parts of Europe.
The wildfire in eastern Belgium ravaged approximately 30 square kilometers in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes), marking one of the country’s most severe wildfires in recent memory. Over 600 residents in the nearby municipalities of Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province near the German border, were instructed to evacuate as winds changed direction, spreading smoke throughout the area. Authorities urged tourists to leave the area, with a nearby gymnasium set up to accommodate evacuees.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, reported that more than 250 emergency personnel, including over 100 Belgian and German firefighters, as well as police, military officers, and civil protection staff, were deployed to combat the blaze. Additionally, firefighting helicopters from Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands provided crucial support.
In Greece, the coast guard confirmed the tragic deaths of an elderly couple outside their residence on the island of Salamina, near where a fire originated. More than 500 individuals were evacuated from the island as the blaze coincided with Greece’s peak summer holiday period around the Aug. 15 Assumption holiday. The fires caused damage to homes, with five individuals requiring medical attention at a local clinic.
The firefighting efforts in Belgium have surpassed the 2011 fire that scorched nearly 14 square kilometers in the same region, previously holding the record as the country’s largest wildfire. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, highlighted the challenging conditions this time, with extremely dry soil fueling the flames. René Dahmen, chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, noted the ongoing difficulty in reaching the fire’s advancing eastern flank.
Belgium activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to receive assistance from other countries, with Sweden dispatching two water-bombing aircraft and the Netherlands and the Czech Republic deploying three helicopters. The fires in the High Fens region were aggravated by weeks of unusually hot and dry weather, complicating containment efforts due to the area’s heathland and peat bogs.
In France, firefighters contained a wildfire in the southwestern Landes region, with no major flare-ups reported overnight. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, emergency crews tackled 14 wildfires in South Wales, supported by military personnel, amid persistent drought conditions heightening the wildfire risk. Germany also made significant progress against a wildfire in the Hürtgen Forest, allowing evacuated residents to return home as open flames were extinguished and a protective cordon established.