Firefighters fought a large wildfire that burned 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 that have fueled fires across various parts of Europe.
In eastern Belgium, a fire engulfed around 30 square kilometers in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes), a significant nature reserve, marking one of the country’s most severe wildfires in recent memory. Approximately 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. Tourists were also advised to leave, with a nearby gymnasium serving as a shelter for evacuees.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, mentioned on Sunday that more than 250 emergency personnel, including over 100 Belgian and German firefighters, police, military officers, and civil protection staff, were deployed to combat the blaze. Firefighting helicopters from Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands were also engaged in the operation.
In Greece, the coast guard reported that an elderly couple perished outside their home on the island of Salamina, located west of Athens, close to where a fire originated. Over 500 individuals were rescued from the island. The fire broke out during Greece’s peak summer weekend around the Aug. 15 Assumption holiday, a time when many Athenians visit nearby islands such as Salamina, easily accessible from Piraeus, the main port of the capital.
The wildfires prompted damage to homes, with reports indicating that five individuals were taken to a health clinic. About 192 firefighters, 14 aircraft, helicopters, volunteer crews, and municipal water tankers were mobilized to contain the fires. Furthermore, coast guard and firefighting vessels were dispatched to the island, preparing for potential sea evacuations from threatened coastal regions. Salamina was under a high wildfire risk warning on Sunday, while the cause of the fires remained unknown.
The ongoing blaze in Belgium has surpassed a 2011 fire that ravaged nearly 14 square kilometers in the same area, previously the country’s largest recorded wildfire, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, emphasized that conditions were notably worse this time due to extremely dry soil.
René Dahmen, chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, mentioned that the fire was still spreading on Sunday in an area challenging for crews to access, with priorities focused on preventing the fire from advancing towards a municipal forest.
Interior Minister Bernard Quintin confirmed that the firefighters successfully contained the blaze from spreading towards the west and towards the German town of Monschau. Local authorities in Germany cautioned on Sunday that the fire was approximately 1.5 kilometers from the border, prompting farmers from Belgium and Germany to assist by filling tanker trucks with water from a nearby lake to support firefighting efforts.
Belgium activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to receive aid from other countries, with Sweden sending two water-bombing aircraft, and three helicopters from the Netherlands and the Czech Republic being dispatched. The fires come after weeks of unusually hot and dry weather, complicating containment efforts due to the High Fens’ mix of heathland and peat bogs.
In France, firefighters managing a wildfire in a pine forest in the Landes region faced no major flare-ups overnight, with authorities estimating the burned area at 17 square kilometers, leading to the evacuation of about 650 individuals. The UK and Germany also faced wildfires, with emergency crews battling blazes in South Wales and the Hürtgen Forest, respectively, amidst ongoing drought conditions and heightened wildfire risks.