Discussion on preparation for forest fires in Belgium

At the center of the meeting is the issue of whether Belgium is adequately prepared for forest fires of this magnitude.

While MPs question whether the necessary precautions have been taken following the previous warnings, the inadequacy of the country's aerial fire extinguishing capacity and the coordination problems experienced between institutions in the intervention are among the prominent topics.

Minister of Internal Affairs Bernard Quintin is expected to answer MPs' questions on these issues.

According to news in the national press, opposition MPs pointed out that the Climate Risk Assessment Center (Cerac) warned against the risk of forest fire in the report published about 1.5 years ago, but argued that the government did not make the necessary preparations.

Coordination between the fire brigade, police, Defense and Civil Protection during the fire also became one of the topics of political debate.

Could not be completely controlled

The fire in Hautes Fagnes, one of the largest and oldest nature reserves in the country, located in the province of Liege, started on August 14.

Some settlements on the German border and in Belgium were evacuated due to the fire.

Belgium activated the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism to fight the fire, and various European countries supported the extinguishing efforts with aircraft and teams.

Approximately 3 thousand hectares of land were damaged in the rapidly spreading fire.

While the progress of the flames has been stopped in recent days, the fire has not yet been completely brought under control.

The continuation of burning underground in the region poses a risk of re-ignition.

The fire became the largest forest fire on record in Belgium, surpassing the fire in 2011 that damaged approximately 1,400 hectares of land.