Belgium’s largest wildfire on record spreads towards German border

What the report says

Belgium is fighting what Al Jazeera, citing Reuters and the Associated Press, described as the country’s largest wildfire on record, with flames moving through the High Fens nature reserve near the German border. The fire began on Friday in Liège province and had burned more than 27 square kilometres by Sunday, according to the report. Belgium’s previous record fire, in 2011, burned about 14 square kilometres in the same reserve.

Officials said more than 250 emergency personnel were involved, including firefighters from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The priority was to contain the advancing edge of the blaze. About 600 residents in the border municipalities of Waimes and Butgenbach were ordered to leave on Saturday after winds shifted and smoke spread, though authorities said no homes had been damaged by Sunday morning.

Across the border in Germany, the town of Monschau said the fire had approached to within about 3 kilometres, but it did not expect the flames to cross into German territory. Still, it advised people in three districts to evacuate temporarily because of smoke.

The wildfire comes after a period of severe heat and limited rainfall in Belgium. More broadly, the article places the fire in the context of a summer of repeated European heatwaves and multiple recent wildfires across the continent.