Because of the forest fire in the Belgian High Fens, residents on the German side of the border had to leave their homes in the evening. An emergency shelter has been set up near Monschau.
Dusseldorf. The fire in the Hohes Venn nature reserve is no longer advancing towards the German border. Light rain, no wind and high humidity played into the hands of the emergency services. “This is good for us,” said a fire department spokesman in the operations control center in Kalterherberg, a district of Monschau. With an area of around 3,000 hectares, it is the largest forest fire in the history of Belgium.
The fire had advanced within 300 meters of the German border. There were also fears at times that the wind would pick up, turn unfavorably and drive the flames towards Germany. The houses in the villages of Ruitzhof and Geisberg with around 30 residents were evacuated on Sunday evening around 10 p.m.
The fire fighters hope to be able to save the houses: meadows between the fire and the houses have been completely soaked with water in the past few hours. At around 4 p.m. on Sunday the request came from Belgium to help fight the fire. The operation had already been prepared.
Not only would the meadows be watered, but large water tanks would also be constantly refilled for the fire engines that fight the flames directly. The water has to be brought in from the Eierbach dam. Not only the fire, but also the smoke is dangerous to health. An emergency shelter for those affected was set up in a school in Simmerath.
On Saturday, around 600 people had to leave their homes in two Belgian communities near the fire area.
Belgium receives support from several European countries. In addition to two firefighting helicopters with large water tanks from the Netherlands, two firefighting planes from Sweden were in action on Sunday afternoon, wrote Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin on Platform X. Firefighters from Germany and Luxembourg were already on site, according to local authorities.
The Belgian armed forces are also helping: They provided six fire engines and a tanker, as Defense Minister Theo Francken announced. The extinguishing work is made more difficult by the impassable terrain of the High Fens. There are only a few access routes. In addition, the extensive moorland areas make fighting fires difficult.
The situation in the Hürtgen Forest remains under control
In the Hürtgenwald in the Eifel, where the largest forest fire in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia broke out at the end of last week, the signs continue to point to relaxation. “The situation in the Hürtgenwald is still under control,” said a spokeswoman for the Düren district. “But there are still numerous embers.” These are now the focus of firefighting. There are no more open flames. But one cannot yet speak of an end to the situation.
Around 400 emergency services were deployed in the Hürtgen Forest that night. During the day there would probably be twice as many again. Unfortunately, the rain was just “a drop in the ocean,” said the spokeswoman. “But we’ll take whatever we can get.”
According to the district, around 300 hectares of forest are affected by the fire. The Hürtgenwald-Gey district was spared from the flames. Residents of the evacuated district had already returned to their apartments and houses on Saturday evening, a spokeswoman said. “As of Sunday morning, around two thirds of those affected were back on site.” Around 2,000 people had to leave the area on Friday night. The flames had advanced within 250 meters of property.
The causes of the fire are still being investigated.
As soon as the extinguishing work has been completed, the question of the causes will likely come into greater focus. North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and other cabinet members found out about the situation on site. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul and Agriculture Minister Silke Gorißen (both CDU) spoke of possible human error.
The Cologne police investigating Hürtgenwald said on Sunday that they had set up an information portal. There are no conclusive findings yet, the information received is being evaluated, reported a police spokeswoman.
In the Westerwald, the fire brigade prevents attacks
After the forest fire near Gebhardshain, the operation continues on Monday. “The emergency services are still on site this morning,” the community said on Instagram. “Over the course of the morning, the deployment of forces will be increased again in order to carry out further work in the affected forest area.”
The fire had already been brought under control on Sunday evening, as the Altenkirchen district announced. Follow-up work was planned for the night. The areas should be checked again on Monday morning.
Previously there were anxious hours in the Westerwald town: the flames of the forest fire had eaten up to around 20 meters from the first buildings on Sunday evening until the all-clear was given. The situation was now so dire that a street with 20 households had to be quickly evacuated. The residents were later allowed to return to their homes.
The Verbandsgemeinde of Betzdorf-Gebhardshain is located about 60 kilometers east of Bonn in a wooded low mountain region in Rhineland-Palatinate on the border with North Rhine-Westphalia.
