Firefighters were engaged in combatting an extensive wildfire that ravaged a natural reserve in eastern Belgium and another inferno on a Greek island near Athens, where two individuals lost their lives on Sunday due to the scorching and arid conditions that have been fueling fires across various parts of Europe.
In eastern Belgium, a conflagration engulfed approximately 30 square kilometers in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes), a significant natural reserve, marking one of the most severe wildfires the country has witnessed recently. Around 600 residents in the adjacent municipalities of Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province near the German border, were instructed to evacuate on Saturday as winds changed direction and smoke enveloped the region. Tourists were also advised to depart, with a local gymnasium being prepared to accommodate evacuees.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that more than 250 emergency responders were dispatched, including over 100 Belgian and German firefighters, along with police, military personnel, and civil protection teams. Belgium’s federal police and helicopters from the Netherlands were also involved in the firefighting efforts.
In Greece, the coast guard reported that an elderly couple perished outside their residence on the island of Salamina, situated west of Athens, close to where the fire originated. Over 500 individuals were evacuated from the island. The blaze erupted during Greece’s peak summer holiday weekend around the Aug. 15 Assumption holiday, a period when numerous Athenians travel to nearby islands such as Salamina, conveniently accessible from the capital’s primary port of Piraeus.
Multiple homes were damaged, and five people were transported to a medical facility as per local accounts. Approximately 192 firefighters, 14 aircraft and helicopters, volunteer squads, and municipal water tankers were mobilized to contain the blazes. Coast guard and firefighting vessels were dispatched to the island, with provisions made for potential sea evacuations from endangered coastal regions. Salamina was under a high wildfire risk alert on Sunday, and the cause of the fires remained undisclosed.
The wildfire currently raging in Belgium has surpassed a 2011 fire that charred nearly 14 square kilometers in the same vicinity and was previously the country’s largest recorded wildfire, as per the European Forest Fire Information System data. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, stated that conditions were notably worse this time, emphasizing the extremely arid soil as a significant factor.
René Dahmen, the chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, mentioned that the fire was still spreading on Sunday in a challenging-to-access region. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin confirmed that firefighters successfully averted the blaze from expanding westward towards the German town of Monschau. Local authorities in Germany cautioned that the fire was approximately 1.5 kilometers away from the border.
Belgium activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to solicit aid from other nations, as announced by Hadja Lahbib, the EU’s commissioner responsible for crisis management. Several countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, sent firefighting aircraft to support the operation.
The ongoing fires are an aftermath of weeks of unusually scorching and dry weather conditions. The unique combination of heathland and peat bogs in the High Fens has complicated firefighting endeavors. Belgium recently faced another episode of intense heat, with temperatures soaring to around 37°C in certain regions on Friday.
In France, firefighters managed to contain a wildfire in a pine forest in the southwestern Landes region, with no significant flare-ups reported overnight. The total area scorched was estimated at 17 square kilometers, prompting the evacuation of approximately 650 residents. Notably, this was the third major wildfire in the expansive pine forests of southwestern France this summer, following two others in late July.
In the United Kingdom, emergency crews were combatting 14 wildfires in South Wales, assisted by military personnel. Authorities warned about the persistent high risk of wildfires despite the alleviation of the heatwave. Moreover, in Germany, firefighters made substantial headway against a wildfire in the Hürtgen Forest, allowing about 2,000 evacuated residents of Gey to return home on Saturday. As of Sunday, no active flames were reported, and crews had established a clear perimeter to prevent the fire’s spread.