Belgium's Worst Wildfire on Record Burns 2,700 Hectares, Forces Evacuations Near German Border

Since the fire broke out Friday, August 14, in Belgium's High Fens (Hautes Fagnes) nature reserve near the German border, it has gone from a contained 80-hectare patch to a disaster authorities are calling the worst wildfire in the country's modern history. By late Saturday, August 15, it had scorched more than 2,700 hectares, according to local authorities cited by France 24. Earlier Saturday afternoon, Xinhua and multiple wire reports had the figure at roughly 1,600 hectares, meaning the fire nearly doubled in size again within hours.

The numbers moved fast all day. AFP-sourced reporting carried by the New Indian Express, Kuwait Times and Free Malaysia Today put the burn area at 16 square kilometers, or about six square miles, as of Saturday afternoon. By evening, France 24's figure of 2,700 hectares showed the fire was still expanding, not slowing down.

Evacuations began Saturday around 4:00 p.m. local time. Authorities ordered residents in parts of Sourbrodt and Buetgenbach, villages near the town of Waimes, to leave, according to Channel News Asia and France 24. The Belga news agency reported 600 people were told to evacuate. A gymnasium in the nearby municipality of Malmedy was opened as a shelter.

Earlier in the day, the picture was less settled. Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the regional authorities in Wallonia, told AFP the evacuation of Sourbrodt, a village of about 500 people, was "under consideration because of the smoke, but no final decision has been taken yet." That decision came a few hours later.

A fire authorities say they can't fight normally

The High Fens terrain, a patchwork of heath, peat bogs and raised wooden boardwalks, has made this fire unusually hard to contain. Yernaux told AFP that firefighters "pulled back to the edge of the forest and allowed parts of the heathland to burn because the area is very difficult to access." France 24 reported authorities said the terrain was "preventing the emergency services from tackling the fire at close quarters using their usual methods."

The mayors of Waimes and Jalhay both described the blaze as the worst in Belgian history, according to Xinhua. The region was last hit by fires of this scale in 1911, during what France 24 described as a similarly extreme heatwave and drought period.

A pan-European response

Belgium activated the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism to bring in outside help. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, who oversees the mechanism, wrote on X that two Swedish water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were en route. Xinhua reported one additional helicopter and two firefighting aircraft from the EU fleet were also on their way as of Saturday afternoon.

On the ground, Belgium deployed three helicopters and the military sent three Panther firefighting vehicles, according to Xinhua. Reinforcements came from firefighters across Belgium's provinces as well as neighboring Germany.

Interior Minister Bernard Quintin was escorted into the burn zone by an AFP journalist Saturday. "When you see how things looked this morning and how they are now, you can only be shocked," Quintin said, according to Channel News Asia. He also credited local farmers who drove out to help wet down the area: "It's impressive, very impressive."

On the ground

David Rodolfs, 38, who owns two restaurants in the Waimes area, described the scene to AFP as smoke rolled in Friday. "There was ash falling onto the tables, and then we asked our customers to leave. No dessert, everyone had to go," he said. He called the fire "a catastrophe."

In Eupen, a municipality near the fire zone, an AFP journalist reported the sky turning yellow with columns of smoke visible in the distance.

Romane Bouhaben of the Belgian Red Cross told AFP her organization was stationed at the evacuation shelter to provide "food, water and somewhere to rest, particularly for the most vulnerable people."

As of Saturday night, Yernaux told AFP the fire remained uncontrolled and "highly dependent on aerial resources." No containment percentage or timeline for full containment has been given by Wallonia's regional authorities. It also remains unclear how many structures, if any, have been damaged or destroyed, or whether the 600 evacuated residents will be able to return home in the coming days. The fire's cause has not been announced.

The blaze adds to a summer of extreme heat and wildfire activity across Western Europe, following fires already reported in France, the UK, Germany and Croatia earlier in August. Whether Belgium's response and the EU mechanism backing it can get the High Fens fire under control before it spreads further into German border territory is the immediate question facing Wallonia's regional government heading into Sunday.