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 Europe.
In eastern Belgium, a fire consumed approximately 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. Around 600 residents in the neighboring towns of Waimes and Bütgenbach in Liège province, near the German border, were instructed to evacuate as winds changed direction, spreading smoke in the vicinity. Tourists were also advised to depart, with a nearby gymnasium serving as an evacuation center.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, stated on Sunday that over 250 emergency personnel, including more than 100 Belgian and German firefighters, as well as police, military officers, and civil protection teams, were deployed to combat the blaze. Additionally, firefighting helicopters operated by Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands were involved in the efforts.
In Greece, the coast guard confirmed the death of an elderly couple outside their residence on the island of Salamina, located west of Athens, close to where the fire originated. Over 500 individuals were rescued from the island. The fire erupted during Greece’s peak summer holiday season around the Aug. 15 Assumption holiday, a time when many Athenians travel to nearby islands like Salamina, easily accessible from Piraeus, the capital’s main port. Reports indicated property damage and five individuals receiving medical treatment at a local clinic.
Approximately 192 firefighters, 14 aircraft and helicopters, volunteer crews, and municipal water tankers were deployed to contain the blazes. Coast guard and firefighting vessels were dispatched to the island, with preparations made for potential sea evacuations from threatened coastal areas. Salamina was under a high wildfire risk alert on Sunday, with the cause of the fires yet to be determined.
The ongoing wildfire in Belgium has now surpassed a 2011 fire that burned nearly 14 square kilometers in the same region, 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, pointed out that the current conditions were notably worse due to extremely dry soil.
René Dahmen, the chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, mentioned that the fire continued to spread in a hard-to-reach area on Sunday. Efforts were focused on preventing the fire from advancing towards a municipal forest.
Interior Minister Bernard Quintin reported on social media that firefighters successfully prevented the blaze from spreading westward towards the German town of Monschau. Local authorities in Germany warned that the fire was approximately 1.5 kilometers away from the border. Farmers from both Belgium and Germany assisted by filling tanker trucks with water from a nearby lake to aid firefighting operations.
Belgium activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to receive assistance from other countries. Hadja Lahbib, the EU’s crisis management commissioner, emphasized that Belgium was not facing the crisis alone. Sweden dispatched two water-bombing aircraft, while three helicopters – two from the Netherlands and one from the Czech Republic – were also deployed.
The recent wildfires in Europe have been exacerbated by weeks of abnormal heat and dry weather conditions. The High Fens’ terrain, a combination of heathland and peat bogs, has made firefighting efforts challenging. Belgium experienced another heatwave this week, with temperatures reaching around 37°C in certain areas on Friday.
In France, firefighters managed to control a wildfire in a pine forest in the southwestern Landes region with no significant flare-ups overnight. The total burned area was estimated at 17 square kilometers, prompting the evacuation of about 650 individuals. This incident marked the third major wildfire in the vast pine forests of southwestern France this summer, following two others in late July.
Emergency crews in the United Kingdom battled 14 wildfires in South Wales, supported by military personnel. Authorities cautioned that despite the easing of the heatwave, drought conditions continued to pose a high risk of wildfires. In central England, fires destroyed over a dozen homes in the West Midlands during the hottest day of the year, with temperatures reaching 38.1°C on Thursday.
Firefighters in Germany made significant progress in containing a wildfire in the Hürtgen Forest, allowing approximately 2,000 evacuated residents of Gey to return home on Saturday. By Sunday, no open flames were reported, and crews had established a cleared perimeter around the affected area to prevent further spread of the fire.