Belgium's worst ever forest fire ravages Hohes Venn

Belgium's worst ever forest fire has been raging since Friday and by Sunday evening had destroyed 3,000 hectares in the historic Hohes Venn nature reserve, writes Le Soir. Expansive bogs with moors and large forest areas made extinguishing work difficult.

Belgian authorities activated the EU's civil protection mechanism early on and thus received help from the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Sweden, which sent two water-bombing aircraft with personnel. Light rain, light winds and high humidity have also helped.

But the favorable weather conditions are now set to change, according to the state meteorological institute IRM: the wind is picking up and turning to the northwest, away from the threatened German border. In general, it will also be precipitation-free and during the night the wind will pick up again with a continued turn to the west, later south.

The forest fire is raging in the European summer's fifth heat wave so far, which is also the backdrop for other fires on the continent. On Sunday, two large forest fires started on the Greek island of Salamina outside Athens, where at least two people died and many hundreds were evacuated.

In Croatia, one person also died from a fire that broke out in Lokva Rogoznica, near the tourist resort of Omis, on Friday. In Spain, a firefighter died on Sunday while fighting a fire in Aragon; five firefighters were injured in the Portuguese Dine; further fires have raged in Spain's Boticas and Chavez.

During the summer, larger fires have also raged in Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Italy. On the American space agency Nasa's global fire map Firms, countless red dots are currently visible across the entire continent.