Air reinforcements were headed to Belgium Monday to help combat the country\u2019s worst wildfire in a century, which made \u201climited\u201d advance overnight after threatening to spill into neighbouring Germany.<\/p>\n
Much-needed rain was delivering some respite to firefighters on their fourth day battling the blaze, which broke out Friday for reasons still unknown in the High Fens nature reserve, a vast expanse of boggy peatlands, pine forests and hiking trails.<\/p>\n
Europe has been swept by weeks of devastating wildfires fuelled by dry conditions and a historically hot summer that has already contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ | Quick action contains Durban informal settlement blaze<\/a><\/p>\n France, Greece, Portugal and Spain were also battling major fires over the weekend.<\/p>\n In Belgium, where as of Sunday the fire had spread to 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) \u2014 an area half the size of Manhattan \u2014 around 500 firefighters and emergency crews have mobilised to contain it.<\/p>\n A Monday morning update from the local governor\u2019s office said \u201cthe fire\u2019s spread remained limited thanks to more favourable winds and rainfall recorded late overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMajor aerial resources are due to reinforce crews on the ground throughout the day,\u201d it said, with helicopters from Norway and Germany joining the fleet of aircraft hauling water to hard-to-reach areas.<\/p>\n Crisis management spokesman Tony Hosmans confirmed to reporters Monday the blaze was no longer advancing towards the German border \u2014 after creeping nearer over the weekend, prompting an evacuation order in the border town of Monschau.<\/p>\n \u201cAt present, the fire is contained wherever intervention is possible,\u201d Hosmans said \u2014 although he cautioned it had not yet been brought under control, with an aerial reconnaissance mission due to deliver a fuller picture later in the day.<\/p>\n And the rainfall \u2014 with more forecast on and off throughout the week \u2014 was a welcome development.<\/p>\n The blaze broke out in an area that was ravaged by massive fires in 1911, during a similar period of heatwaves and drought.<\/p>\n