Firefighters fought against a massive wildfire that ravaged a nature reserve in eastern Belgium and another on a Greek island near Athens, resulting in two fatalities on Sunday due to hot and dry conditions escalating fires across parts of Europe.
The wildfire in eastern Belgium consumed approximately 30 square kilometers in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes), a significant nature reserve, marking one of the most severe wildfires in recent Belgian history. Around 600 residents in the nearby municipalities of Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province near the German border, were instructed to evacuate on Saturday as winds changed direction, spreading smoke in the area. Authorities also suggested tourists leave, while a nearby gymnasium was made available for evacuees.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that over 250 emergency personnel, including more than 100 Belgian and German firefighters, as well as police, military officers, and civil protection staff, have been mobilized. Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands’ firefighting helicopters also provided assistance.
In Greece, the coast guard reported the unfortunate demise of an elderly couple outside their residence on the island of Salamina, located west of Athens, in close proximity to where the fire originated. Over 500 individuals were rescued from the island. The fire erupted during Greece’s peak summer holiday weekend around the Aug. 15 Assumption holiday, a time when many residents of Athens visit nearby islands like Salamina due to its easy accessibility from Piraeus, the capital’s main port.
Several houses were damaged, and five individuals were transported to a health clinic, according to local accounts. Approximately 192 firefighters, 14 aircraft and helicopters, volunteer squads, and municipal water tankers were deployed to combat the blazes. Coast guard and firefighting vessels were dispatched to the island, with preparations made for potential sea evacuations from threatened coastal regions. Salamina was under a high wildfire risk alert on Sunday, and the cause of the fires remained unknown.
The wildfire currently raging in Belgium has surpassed a 2011 fire that burned nearly 14 square kilometers in the same area, which was previously the country’s largest recorded wildfire, as per data from the European Forest Fire Information System. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, highlighted that conditions were considerably worse this time due to extremely dry soil exacerbating the situation.
René Dahmen, the chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, mentioned on Sunday that the fire was still spreading in an area challenging for firefighting crews to access. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin shared on social media that firefighters successfully prevented the fire from spreading westward towards the German town of Monschau. Local authorities in Germany cautioned that the fire was about 1.5 kilometers from the border.
European countries dispatched firefighting aircraft to assist Belgium in battling the wildfires. Sweden sent two water-bombing aircraft, while the Netherlands and the Czech Republic each deployed three helicopters. The fires followed weeks of unusually hot and dry weather, complicating containment efforts in the High Fens due to the area’s combination of heathland and peat bogs.
In France, firefighters managing a wildfire in a pine forest in the Landes region reported no significant flare-ups overnight. Approximately 17 square kilometers were estimated to have burned, leading to the evacuation of about 650 individuals. Notably, this was the third major wildfire in the vast pine forests of southwestern France this summer. Additionally, a massive wildfire in the Gironde department burned around 420 square kilometers, prompting the evacuation of approximately 220,000 people as it advanced towards the Atlantic coast and Bordeaux.
Emergency crews in the United Kingdom tackled 14 wildfires in South Wales with military support. Authorities cautioned that despite the easing heat wave, drought conditions posed a high risk of wildfires. In central England, fires destroyed over a dozen homes in the West Midlands this week, coinciding with the hottest day of the year when temperatures reached 38.1 degrees Celsius. Firefighters in Germany made significant headway against a wildfire in the Hürtgen Forest, allowing around 2,000 evacuated residents of Gey to return home on Saturday, with no active flames reported on Sunday and a secured cordon established to prevent further spread.
