Belgium’s High Fens nature reserve is battling the largest wildfire in the country’s recorded history, with the blaze more than doubling in size within 24 hours and prompting activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for emergency aerial support.
The fire, which broke out on Thursday near the town of Eupen in eastern Belgium, has scorched more than 1,700 hectares of pine forest and heathland across the vast upland plateau close to the borders with Germany and the Netherlands. The blaze is spreading towards the German border, authorities said on Saturday.
EU Emergency Aid Deployed
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated on Saturday, with three helicopters and two water-bombing aircraft arriving from Sweden, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to reinforce Belgian firefighting teams on the ground. Belgium also deployed its own firefighting resources from across the country to the affected region.
The fire has been driven by persistent high temperatures and dry conditions across central and western Europe throughout the summer. The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) reported that the EU had recorded over 568,000 hectares burned since the start of 2026, below last year’s record but well above the 20-year average of approximately 243,000 hectares.
Broader European Fire Season
The Belgian blaze is part of a wider pattern of intense wildfire activity across Europe this summer. Croatia’s Adriatic coast near Omis saw a major fire that forced roughly 1,000 people to evacuate and injured dozens. Greece, Spain, France and Italy have all experienced significant fire events since early July.
European Commission data shows that very extreme fire danger conditions are forecast across a large area of central-eastern Europe stretching from Germany and the Alpine region through Poland and into the Balkans for the week of August 13 to 19. Additional pockets of extreme danger affect southern Great Britain, Ireland, northern France and southern Sweden.
Scientists note that Europe is Earth’s fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s according to the EU’s Copernicus climate service. Rising temperatures and prolonged drought dry vegetation, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely than in previous decades.
Sources: Euronews; EU Joint Research Centre EFFIS; Al Jazeera; AP News; European Commission
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