Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from two villages in eastern Belgium after a wildfire in the High Fens nature reserve expanded to 3,000 hectares by Sunday. The fire, which officials identified as the largest in the country’s history, moved within one mile of the German border, prompting authorities to warn residents in the neighboring German town of Monschau to consider leaving due to smoke. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin reported Sunday that while two fronts were brought under control, one active front approximately one kilometer in length continued to advance.
The fire began on Friday, covering 80 hectares, before growing to 850 hectares by Saturday morning and then more than tripling in size by Sunday. This exceeds the 1,400 hectares burned in the same region in 2011, which was previously the largest recorded fire in Belgium, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. Fire brigade captain Karim Bouarfa stated that crews worked through Saturday night, noting that the scale of the fire was unexpected for the region.
Response efforts have been complicated by the terrain of the nature reserve, which consists of peat bogs, moorland, and forest. Rene Dahmen, chief engineer at Wallonia’s nature and forest department, described the situation as difficult and requested additional helicopter support as the flames moved toward a municipal forest. Firefighters from Germany and Luxembourg, along with the Belgian army and local farmers, have joined the effort. Belgium also activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism, resulting in helicopters and water-bombing aircraft being sent from Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.
The immediate day-to-day impact for those in the affected region includes the loss of access to the High Fens nature reserve and the mobilization of local resources, such as farmers using tractors to haul water from nearby lakes. The activation of the European Union's civil protection mechanism indicates that the scale of the emergency has exceeded Belgium's domestic firefighting capacity, requiring international coordination of air assets and personnel. This event follows a period that the EU's Copernicus climate monitoring service identified as the hottest June and July on record for Western Europe, which scientists state has created drier conditions that allow fires to spread more quickly.
The fire is part of a broader increase in wildfire activity across Europe, with related fatalities and evacuations reported in Greece, Croatia, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the same weekend. In Belgium, the cause of the fire remains unknown because crews have been unable to reach the point of origin due to the difficult terrain. Officials will continue to monitor the active one-kilometer front, and the effectiveness of the international air support will determine when evacuated residents can return to their homes. No specific date for the containment of the final front has been reported.