Firefighters were engaged in combating extensive wildfires 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 in various parts of Europe.
The inferno in eastern Belgium engulfed approximately 30 square kilometers in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes), a significant nature reserve, marking one of the most severe wildfires in recent memory for the country. Around 600 residents in the nearby towns of Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province near the German border, were instructed to evacuate on Saturday as winds changed direction, spreading smoke throughout the vicinity. Authorities advised tourists to depart, while a nearby gymnasium was designated to accommodate evacuees.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that over 250 emergency responders were mobilized, including more than 100 Belgian and German firefighters, alongside police, military personnel, and civil protection teams. Firefighting helicopters from Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands also contributed to the efforts.
In Greece, the coast guard reported the demise of an elderly couple outside their residence on the island of Salamina, west of Athens, close to where a fire originated. Over 500 individuals were rescued from the island. The blaze erupted during Greece’s peak summer holiday weekend around the Assumption holiday on August 15, attracting numerous Athenians to nearby islands like Salamina, conveniently accessible from the capital’s main port of Piraeus. Reports indicated property damage and five individuals being transported to a health facility.
Approximately 192 firefighters, 14 aircraft and helicopters, volunteer teams, and municipal water tankers were dispatched to contain the fires. Additionally, coast guard and firefighting vessels were deployed to Salamina, preparing for potential sea evacuations from endangered coastal zones. Salamina was under a high wildfire risk alert on Sunday, with the cause of the fires yet to be determined.
The ongoing blaze in Belgium has surpassed a previous 2011 fire that affected nearly 14 square kilometers in the same vicinity, previously recognized as the country’s largest wildfire on record, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, noted that the current conditions were considerably more severe due to extremely dry soil.
René Dahmen, the chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, highlighted on Sunday that the fire continued spreading in a hard-to-reach area for the crews. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin confirmed that firefighters successfully prevented the fire from advancing westward toward the German town of Monschau. Local authorities in Germany cautioned that the fire was approximately 1.5 kilometers from the border, prompting farmers from both Belgium and Germany to assist by filling tanker trucks with water from a nearby lake to support firefighting operations.
Belgium invoked the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to receive aid from other countries, as confirmed by Hadja Lahbib, the EU’s crisis management commissioner. Lahbib emphasized the collaborative response, with Sweden dispatching two water-bombing aircraft, and three helicopters from the Netherlands and the Czech Republic being deployed. The prolonged period of scorching and arid weather conditions has complicated firefighting efforts in the High Fens region.
In France, firefighters managed a wildfire in a pine forest in the southwestern Landes region without significant flare-ups overnight, with authorities estimating the burned area at 17 square kilometers, leading to the evacuation of around 650 residents. The incident marked the third major wildfire in the vast pine forests of southwestern France this summer. Additionally, in the United Kingdom, emergency teams tackled 14 wildfires in South Wales with military support, cautioning about the persistent high wildfire risk despite the easing heat wave conditions.