In Belgium, efforts continue to tackle the country’s largest forest fire on record – in the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve in the east of the country, the blaze, which has been burning since Friday, has been partially contained.
“This is the biggest environmental disaster linked to forest fires that Belgium has ever faced,” Nicolas Jerno, a spokesperson for the Wallonia regional government, told Reuters. “We cannot say that the fire has been contained. It keeps flaring up.”
The rain that fell across eastern Belgium on Monday brought some relief to the firefighters battling to contain the country’s largest forest fire.
According to Reuters, around 500 firefighters from across Belgium, neighbouring Germany and Luxembourg, as well as farmers, soldiers and aircraft from the European Union’s reserve force, are battling the blaze.
The forest fire, which has engulfed 3,000 hectares, is the largest in Belgium’s history, far exceeding the 2011 fire, which covered nearly 1,400 hectares. The fire broke out on Friday following a spell of intense heat. In some parts of Belgium, temperatures reached 37°C, and a prolonged drought had left the vegetation particularly vulnerable to catching fire.
It is reported that the fire has spread into the nature reserve’s peat bogs, which are several metres deep; this means it could take months to fully extinguish. Peat fires can smoulder underground without a visible flame for a long time.
This summer, heatwaves have exacerbated the drought in Europe, and forest fires have swept across this part of the world. According to the agency, citing data from the European Forest Fire Information System, from France and Spain to Greece, the fires have claimed the lives of more than 20 people, forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes and burnt 576,000 hectares across Europe this year.