Belgium has asked fellow European Union countries for help battling a wildfire that has torn through roughly 1,600 hectares of the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve in the east of the country, close to the German border.
The fire broke out on Friday afternoon near the town of Baelen and has continued spreading since, according to the public broadcaster RTBF, which described it as the largest wildfire Belgium has seen in three decades. German firefighters crossed the border to help on Friday night, and by Saturday the response had grown into a wider European effort.
EU Crisis Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said on social media that additional helicopters and aircraft from the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands had been mobilised to support the firefighting operation. Belgium's own civil protection agency has also called in the army, which is expected to provide firefighting vehicles drawn from its air bases.
The Hautes Fagnes, known for its peat bogs and open moorland, sits in one of the more remote corners of Belgium, and its dry vegetation has made the blaze difficult to contain. Authorities have not yet said when the fire is likely to be brought fully under control.