Firefighters fought against a massive wildfire that ravaged a nature reserve in eastern Belgium and another on a Greek island near Athens, where two people lost their lives on Sunday due to hot and dry conditions intensifying fires across parts of 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 nation’s most severe wildfires in recent memory. Around 600 residents in the nearby municipalities of Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province near the German border, were instructed to evacuate as winds changed direction and smoke blanketed the area. Authorities also recommended tourists to depart, while a nearby gymnasium was made available to accommodate evacuees.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that over 250 emergency personnel, including more than 100 Belgian and German firefighters, as well as police, military officers, and civil protection staff, were deployed. Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands’ firefighting helicopters also provided assistance.
In Greece, the coast guard reported the tragic deaths of an elderly couple outside their home on the island of Salamina, located west of Athens, close to where a fire erupted. Over 500 individuals were rescued from the island. The fire broke out during Greece’s peak summer weekend around the Assumption holiday on August 15, drawing many Athenians to nearby islands like Salamina, easily reachable from the capital’s main port of Piraeus. Several houses were destroyed, and five individuals were transported to a health clinic.
To combat the blazes, about 192 firefighters, 14 aircraft and helicopters, volunteer crews, and municipal water tankers were mobilized. Coast guard and firefighting vessels were dispatched to the island, with provisions made for potential sea evacuations from endangered coastal zones. Salamina was under a heightened wildfire risk warning on Sunday, with the cause of the fires remaining unknown.
The ongoing fire in Belgium has eclipsed a 2011 blaze that scorched nearly 14 square kilometers in the same region, previously being the country’s largest recorded wildfire. Nicolas Yernaux, a representative for the Public Service of Wallonia, noted that conditions were considerably worse this time due to extremely dry soil.
René Dahmen, the chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, mentioned that the fire was still spreading in an area challenging for firefighting crews to access. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin confirmed that firefighters successfully prevented the fire from advancing towards the west and the German town of Monschau, with local German authorities cautioning that the fire was approximately 1.5 kilometers from the border.
Belgium invoked the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to receive aid from other nations. Hadja Lahbib, the EU’s commissioner overseeing crisis management, emphasized that Belgium was not facing the situation alone. Sweden dispatched two water-bombing aircraft, while three helicopters from the Netherlands and the Czech Republic were also deployed.
The series of wildfires across Europe comes following weeks of unusually hot and arid weather, complicating firefighting efforts in the High Fens’ terrain consisting of heathland and peat bogs. Belgium experienced another wave of intense heat recently, with temperatures reaching around 37°C in certain areas on Friday.
In France, firefighters managed a wildfire in a pine forest in the Landes region, estimating the burned area at 17 square kilometers with around 650 evacuations. The United Kingdom saw emergency crews combatting 14 wildfires in South Wales with military support, as officials cautioned about the persistent high risk of wildfires despite the easing heat wave. Germany reported significant progress against a wildfire in the Hürtgen Forest, allowing evacuated residents to return home.