Belgium calls on the European Union to help combat the largest fire it has seen in decades

Belgian authorities reported that a rapidly spreading fire in the Fani Natural Park in the eastern part of the country, near the German border, has consumed at least 1,600 hectares of forest since it broke out on Friday.

Firefighting teams from across Belgium and Germany were deployed to assist in battling the blaze, which expanded significantly overnight, with the involvement of firefighting aircraft and helicopters under the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism.

Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Walonia regional authorities, told AFP that evacuation orders are being considered due to smoke, but no final decision has been made yet.

EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič stated that the bloc had deployed three helicopters and two water-bombing aircraft to combat the fire, following Belgium’s request for emergency reinforcements to control the largest blaze the country has seen in decades.

Data from the European Forest Fire Information System indicate that this fire is now the largest in Belgium’s history, surpassing the 2011 fire that consumed nearly 1,400 hectares.

Belgium and other European countries are currently experiencing their fifth heatwave of the summer, exacerbating hot and dry conditions that facilitate the spread of major wildfires.

Scientists say that climate change driven by human activities is increasing the frequency of weather conditions conducive to fires, allowing wildfires to spread more rapidly and persist for longer periods.