The largest wildfire in Belgium has destroyed 3,000 hectares and is heading towards Germany

Ignited on Friday in the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve, the vegetation fire has destroyed nearly 3,000 hectares by Sunday morning. The affected area has almost doubled since Saturday, when 1,600 hectares were reported burned. Firefighters, along with soldiers and farmers from Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg, are fighting against the flames, which are advancing towards the border with Germany.

Although the fire has not crossed the border, residents of Monschau have been warned due to the dense smoke. Authorities hope that the drop in temperatures will help stop the spread of the fire, but the intervention is complicated by the dry vegetation.

The European Union has sent helicopters and planes for firefighting, and the fire in Belgium is part of a broader wave of fires across Europe, affecting other countries such as Germany, Greece, and Croatia. Since the beginning of the year, fires have affected over 568,000 hectares in the European Union, exceeding the average of the last 20 years.