Firefighters pushing to ‘encircle’ Belgian fire

SOURBRODT, Belgium

The smoke hazard triggered the evacuation of two Belgian villages. (AFP photo)

Firefighters launched a potentially decisive push on Aug. 18 to encircle Belgium’s largest wildfire in a century, despite wind and rain hampering air support operations over the High Fens nature reserve.

The blaze charring the vast expanse of boggy peatlands, pine trees and hiking trails grew over the weekend to half the size of Manhattan, 3,000 hectares, with hundreds of firefighters working night and day
to wrestle it under control.

“We are trying to definitively encircle the fire today,” regional government spokesperson Nicolas Yernaux told AFP.

In areas where firefighters could operate, he confirmed the fire was “under control and contained.”

But a hard-to-access front towards the German border remains a concern, with residents in the border town of Monschau already under evacuation orders due to the smoke hazard.