Rainfall aids fight against Belgium’s biggest wildfire, as blazes rip through Europe

FIRE SEASON FAR FROM OVER

Extreme fire risk has become a regular part of Europe’s summers in recent years, as hotter, drier weather caused by climate change has combined with other factors – including rural abandonment, which has left land untended and allowed flammable, dry vegetation to build up in forests – to fuel fast-spreading fires.

Around 90 per cent of wildfires are ignited by human activity, such as campfires or discarded cigarettes.

Europe had already suffered its worst fire season on record last year, with more than a million hectares of land burned. Some countries, including France, have smashed through their annual records this year, with the traditional June to September fire season far from over.

Dozens of people in the village Le Porge, in southwestern France, where hundreds of homes were destroyed by a megafire last month, booed French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu as he visited the area. Residents have criticised the government’s response and accused authorities of prioritising saving wealthier areas.

Belgian officials said the blaze there was no longer spreading towards Germany and was partly contained. Evacuated residents have not yet been allowed to return home.

Some 500 firefighters from across the country and neighbouring Germany and Luxembourg, alongside farmers and the army, have been battling the fire. It has burned about 3,000ha in the nature reserve of moorland, peat and woods – far surpassing Belgium’s last record-breaking fire in 2011, which burned close to 1,400ha.

The EU has deployed three helicopters and two water bombing aircraft from around Europe since Saturday after Belgium requested emergency reinforcements.