{"id":32903,"date":"2026-08-16T17:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T17:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/32903\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T17:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T17:37:25","slug":"belgiums-biggest-wildfire-on-record-heads-towards-germany-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/32903\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium’s biggest wildfire on record heads towards Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firefighters<\/a> worked through the night to battle Belgium’s biggest wildfire on record, which by Sunday morning had burned 3,000 hectares of land and was heading towards the German border, local authorities said.<\/p>\n

The blaze in the High Fens, a nature reserve in the east of the country, has been burning since Friday and firefighters \u200bfrom across Belgium and neighboring Germany<\/a> and Luxembourg have sought to contain \u200bit, as have the army and farmers.<\/p>\n

Responders on Sunday were focused on the front line of the fire moving towards Germany and were hopeful that cooler, more humid weather would support efforts to contain it, Stephanie Ernoux, spokesperson for the administration of the Belgian region of Wallonia, told Reuters.<\/p>\n

The fire is more than double the size of a blaze in 2011 that burned close to 1,400 hectares, data from \u200bthe European Forest Fire Information System showed.<\/p>\n

The EU deployed three helicopters and two water bomber aircraft from around Europe on Saturday after Belgium requested emergency reinforcements.<\/p>\n

Local authorities said the defensive line protecting evacuated villages from the fire was holding on Sunday, though residents who had been evacuated on Saturday were told they should not yet return to their homes.<\/p>\n

“No homes have been affected at this stage, although the fire remains close and smoke levels are significant,” the office of the governor of Liege said in an \u200bupdate.<\/p>\n

The blaze ignited as European countries, including Belgium<\/a>, suffered their fifth heatwave<\/a> of the summer this week.<\/p>\n

Scientists say that human-caused climate change has increased the likelihood of the \u200bhot and \u2060dry conditions that allow wildfires to spread faster and burn longer.<\/p>\n

The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.<\/p>\n

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