Belgium: the largest forest fire of the century surrounded but not controlled

Firefighters managed to completely surround, on the night of Tuesday August 18 to Wednesday August 19, the largest forest fire that Belgium has seen in a century. But the situation on the ground "remains complicated" with several outbreaks of fire observed, local authorities reported to AFP on Wednesday August 18. According to the spokesperson for the crisis unit, Tony Hosmans, the objective is to bring the fire under control on Wednesday "if possible with air support".

However, nothing is less certain. On Tuesday, no plane or helicopter could be used against this historic fire, which has already ravaged 3,000 hectares of the Hautes Fagnes natural park, close to the German border. Water bombers from Norway, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands remained on the ground. The weather forecasts "available at this stage do not suggest a sufficiently favorable development to allow their mobilization" on Wednesday, declared Tuesday evening the authorities of the province of Liège, where the burned park is located.

The approximately 500 firefighters still mobilized on the ground are somewhat helped by the rain falling in this region of eastern Belgium. But this “precipitation does not mean that the fire is extinguished”, insisted the Belgian authorities. It also creates significant smoke which hampers firefighters and reduces visibility for air assets. The Belgian Minister of the Interior, Bernard Quintin, warned on Tuesday that extinguishing the fire would still take "weeks", also due to the particularity of peat, which burns at depth.