A major wildfire is consuming large sections of Belgium’s High Fens nature reserve, which straddles the border with Germany. The fire began on Friday in Liege province and has continued spreading eastward, consuming more than 27 square kilometers of land. This blaze surpasses the previous record set in 2011, when a fire in the same reserve burned 14 square kilometers.
Response efforts have mobilized substantial resources, with more than 250 emergency personnel from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands working to contain the advancing flames. Authorities have prioritized efforts to establish containment lines along the fire’s leading edge. Approximately 600 residents in the Belgian border municipalities of Waimes and Butgenbach were evacuated on Saturday as changing winds shifted smoke patterns across the region.
As of Sunday morning, no residential structures had been damaged, though officials cautioned residents to avoid the affected area. Across the border in Germany, the town of Monschau reported the fire had advanced to within approximately 3 kilometers of the frontier. While German officials did not anticipate flames would breach the border, authorities in three districts of Monschau recommended temporary evacuations due to heavy smoke conditions.
The wildfire emerged following an intense heat event that had recently swept through Belgium, with temperatures reaching approximately 37 degrees Celsius on Friday, compounded by an extended period of minimal rainfall. This fire reflects a broader pattern affecting Europe, where successive heatwaves are creating dangerous conditions for fire ignition and spread. Weather services reported temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius across multiple European nations, with the United Kingdom recording its hottest day of the year. The combination of extreme heat and dry conditions has triggered widespread fires across the continent, displacing thousands of residents from homes in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Croatia, and Greece, with approximately 500,000 hectares burning across the European Union this year.
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