The European Union has deployed helicopters and water-bomber aircraft to help Belgium fight its largest recorded wildfire in the High Fens nature reserve near the German border. The fast-moving blaze, which began on Friday, forced evacuations in some villages and stretched local firefighting capacity as crews worked alongside reinforcements from neighbouring countries.
Belgium requested support under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism as the fire spread rapidly across fragile peatland and pine forest. Aircraft and helicopters from the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands joined Belgian, German and Luxembourg crews on the ground, with EU Crisis Commissioner Hadja Lahbib confirming the aerial mobilisation. By Sunday morning, the burned area had grown to about 3,000 hectares, overtaking Belgium’s previous wildfire record from 2011.
The operation highlighted the bloc’s pooled emergency-response system, which can quickly match aircraft and crews to countries facing major disasters. Local authorities also kept residents near the reserve under evacuation orders or advised them to prepare to leave as smoke and flames moved towards the border.