Firefighters battling a massive wildfire in Belgium’s High Fens nature reserve near the German border have managed to encircle the blaze five days after it broke out, Belgian officials said on Wednesday.
“This is a positive development on the ground,” said Hervé Jamar, governor of the Belgian province of Liège. Emergency services have been battling the fire in the nature reserve near the German border since Friday.
However, the fire, which has so far destroyed around 3,000 hectares, is not yet under control: “We’re not there yet,” a spokesman for the governor told the Belga news agency. The fire flared up again several times during the night.
Emergency crews worked through the night to create a firebreak by stripping away the top layer of soil and vegetation, which allowed them to reach areas of the fire that had remained inaccessible to ground crews because of the rugged terrain.
The fire front had advanced to within around 2.3 kilometres of the German border before firefighters succeeded in encircling it.
Fire still active
“The situation regarding the fire remains unchanged,” Jamar also stated on his website that evening. The fire had been contained, but was still active.
According to the governor, isolated new flare-ups were being checked by the emergency services on the ground.
On Thursday – provided the weather conditions are more favourable than they have been recently – the fire could once again be tackled with support from the air. Volunteer firefighters are also still needed to provide support.
There was also cautious optimism in the town of Monschau in Germany, which is under threat from the forest fire. The blaze is not spreading any further towards German territory, a spokeswoman said. The current weather conditions, with rain, and the intensive fire-fighting efforts on the Belgian side had halted its further spread.
Evacuation lifted
Due to the easing of the situation on the Belgian side, the town of Monschau lifted the evacuation of several streets in the Kalterherberg district on Wednesday afternoon.
Around 30 residents were allowed to return to their homes. The town had asked them to evacuate on Sunday.
Official warns against speculation over cause of blaze
Herbert Reul, North Rhine-Westphalia’s minister for the interior, has warned against speculation about what caused the forest fire in the Belgian nature.
The cause must be carefully investigated, he added. If the perpetrators can be identified, they must be brought to justice.
If that proved impossible, the only option would be to issue a general appeal not to behave irresponsibly in the forest, not to throw away cigarette ends or have barbecues, the minister said. He was commenting on rumours that wild campers might have caused the forest fire in neighbouring Belgium.
WWF: Nature will take decades to recover
The environmental organization WWF said the fire has caused enormous ecological damage.
“It will take decades for nature to recover,” Corentin Rousseau of WWF Belgium told the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. “The large amount of ash has disrupted the balance in the soil.”