Belgium recorded its largest wildfire in history as a blaze in the High Fens nature reserve more than doubled to 3,000 hectares over the weekend. European nations deployed international firefighting aircraft and personnel as extreme heat and dry conditions continued to fuel destructive fires across the continent.
Belgium Records Its Largest Wildfire in History
A fast-moving fire in Belgium’s High Fens nature reserve more than doubled in size in 24 hours, expanding to approximately 3,000 hectares and setting a national record for the largest wildfire in the country’s recorded history. The reserve, characterized by extensive peatlands and pine forests that dried out during prolonged hot weather, proved exceptionally vulnerable when the blaze ignited two days prior.
More than 250 firefighters and emergency service personnel worked through the night to establish containment lines. Belgium’s unified defence force deployed personnel and vehicles to support ground crews, while local farmers assisted. Neighboring Germany and Luxembourg also dispatched firefighters across the border to help contain the front, which pushed dangerously close to German territory.
To bolster local efforts, Belgium activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism bringing in three helicopters and two water-bombing aircraft from Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. As the flames neared residential areas in Liège province, authorities asked roughly 600 residents to evacuate, setting up a temporary rest shelter in a gymnasium in the neighboring Malmedy municipality.
France and Germany Stabilize Major Blazes While Spain Battles Massive Spread
Across Western Europe, emergency services experienced mixed fortunes as shifting winds and parched terrain tested containment lines. In Germany, emergency responders made significant progress against a stubborn blaze in the Hürtgen forest that had forced evacuations. Around 2,000 residents from the village of Gey were able to return home after German news agency dpa reported improved containment.
In France, authorities reported no major overnight flare-ups in the southwestern Landes region, where more than 1,700 hectares of pine forest burned since Thursday. Prefect Gilles Clavreul noted that a separate fire near Biscarrosse, which scorched 3,600 hectares and prompted the precautionary evacuation of around 30,000 people, was under control, allowing neighborhoods to reopen and traffic to resume.
Spain faced expansive destruction. In the Aragon region, authorities deployed what they termed the largest firefighting arsenal in the region’s history to protect a 1,000-year-old monastery. Driven by strong winds, the blaze in the Huesca municipality of Las Peñas de Riglos expanded to affect up to 16,600 hectares.
Historic Scale of European Wildfires in 2026
The current wave of disasters follows a destructive July that etched several fires into European record books. According to satellite imagery analysis from the European Forest Fire Information System, three blazes that broke out in Spain and France rank among the 15 largest recorded in the European Union since 2016.
Spain’s largest recent wildfire broke out in Avila province on July 22, scorching almost 44,000 hectares and ranking as the sixth-largest EU fire of the past decade. A separate fire in Guadalajara province burned more than 33,000 hectares. In France, a Bordeaux-area blaze destroyed over 38,000 hectares, marking the country’s largest wildfire since 1949 and the eighth-largest in the EU over the last ten years.
| Location | Hectares Burned | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Avila, Spain | Nearly 44,000 | Sixth-largest EU wildfire since 2016 |
| Bordeaux region, France | Over 38,000 | France’s largest wildfire since 1949 |
| Guadalajara, Spain | More than 33,000 | 14th-largest EU wildfire since 2016 |
| High Fens, Belgium | Around 3,000 | Largest wildfire in Belgian recorded history |
International Responders Confront Changing Climate Conditions
The continent-wide emergency triggered a massive mobilization of cross-border aid. France activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, deploying its aerial firefighting fleet—including Canadair aircraft, Dash water bombers, helicopters, and an Airbus A400M used to drop fire retardant—alongside international crews from Portugal, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Sweden.
Scientists point to structural environmental shifts underpinning the crisis. Melissa Sterry, founding director of Panarchic Codex, noted that rising temperatures combine with nineteenth-century land engineering that has produced highly combustible plantation forests, creating autonomous systems capable of generating their own weather and ignition sources.
As fire crews hold defensive lines across multiple nations, authorities emphasize that long-term prevention must match emergency response. For now, emergency services remain on high alert as persistent dry conditions keep much of Western Europe vulnerable to further ignitions.
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