A wildfire in Belgium's largest nature reserve has become one of the worst in the country's history. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
On Saturday, firefighters battled a wildfire tearing through Belgium's largest nature reserve, the High Fens. Local authorities ordered residents of two nearby villages to evacuate as flames consumed a third of the reserve. The fire, which had been burning since Friday, could reach homes.
Water-bombing aircraft and helicopters were sent from across Europe to aid firefighters working in the park near its eastern border with Germany.
The fire in Belgium remained out of control as of Saturday afternoon. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the regional authorities in Wallonia, described it as the country's "largest in recent history". He said: "There is a risk that the fire could reach homes, but we are deploying all available resources to protect them." A nearby gymnasium was opened to accommodate those evacuating their homes.
Authorities said they had been hampered by weather conditions as well as the park's terrain, which consists of bog-like territory, moorland and forests. Yernaux said firefighters had "allowed parts of the heathland to burn because the area is very difficult to access".
Gregory Melotte, one of those working to extinguish the blaze, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF: "We managed to calm the fire coming from the plain, to prevent it from spreading into the fir forest. We still succeeded in our mission, but it's not over yet. The flames are coming towards us, the wind has shifted twice, once in our favour, once against us."
The country activated the European Union's civil protection mechanism to trigger reinforcements from other countries. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said two Swedish water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were on their way.
Meanwhile, local officials said 650 residents evacuated their homes as a wildfire burned in Landes, south-western France. The fire began on Thursday and, according to authorities, reignited on Saturday, with more than 500 firefighters deployed to tackle the blaze.
Forest fires have also been reported in Croatia, Spain and Serbia since Friday. Western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record, confirmed by the EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus.