Firefighters fought against a large wildfire that swept through a nature reserve in eastern Belgium and another on a Greek island near Athens, leading to two fatalities on Sunday due to hot and dry conditions triggering fires across parts of Europe.
The blaze in eastern Belgium ravaged approximately 30 square kilometers in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes), a significant nature reserve, marking one of the country’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 on Saturday as winds changed direction, causing smoke to spread in the area. Authorities also recommended tourists to depart, with a nearby gymnasium set up to accommodate evacuees.
Hervé Jamar, the provincial governor of Liège, stated on Sunday that more than 250 emergency responders were mobilized, including over 100 Belgian and German firefighters, along with police, military personnel, and civil protection teams. Firefighting helicopters from Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands provided assistance.
In Greece, the coast guard reported the deaths of an elderly couple outside their residence on the island of Salamina, located west of Athens, close to where a fire ignited. Over 500 individuals were rescued from the island. The incident occurred during Greece’s peak summer holiday weekend around the Assumption holiday on August 15, a time when many Athenians travel to nearby islands such as Salamina, conveniently accessible from the capital’s main port of Piraeus. Several houses sustained damage, and five people were taken to a health clinic.
Approximately 192 firefighters, 14 aircraft and helicopters, volunteer crews, and municipal water tankers were deployed to combat the fires. Coast guard and firefighting vessels were dispatched to the island, with preparations made for potential sea evacuations from threatened coastal regions. Salamina was under a high wildfire risk warning, while the cause of the fires remained unknown.
The ongoing wildfire in Belgium has surpassed a 2011 fire that burned nearly 14 square kilometers in the same region, previously the country’s largest recorded wildfire, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, highlighted the worsened conditions this time due to extremely dry soil.
René Dahmen, chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forests, mentioned that the fire was still spreading on Sunday in an area challenging for firefighting crews to access. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin confirmed that efforts managed to prevent the fire from advancing towards the west and the German town of Monschau, located about 1.5 kilometers from the border.
Belgium activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to receive aid from other countries, with Sweden sending two water-bombing aircraft and three helicopters being deployed, including two from the Netherlands and one from the Czech Republic, to assist. The wildfires in Europe are occurring amid weeks of unusually hot and dry weather, complicating containment efforts in regions like the High Fens with its mix of heathland and peat bogs.