The European Union has deployed a fleet of helicopters and water bomber aircraft to assist in fighting a sprawling wildfire in eastern Belgium, according to the bloc’s crisis commissioner.
The timely reinforcement comes after Belgium’s plea for help to control what has become its largest blaze in decades within the nation’s biggest nature reserve, the High Fens.
Fueled by consecutive heatwaves and exacerbated by climate change, the fire has consumed 1,600 hectares since its outbreak on Friday, setting a record as the nation’s largest recorded wildfire.
(With inputs from agencies.)