The European Union has mobilized helicopters and planes to help extinguish the vegetation fire in eastern Belgium, which has destroyed 1,600 hectares.

The European Union intervened on Saturday to help extinguish the vegetation fire in eastern Belgium, mobilizing three helicopters and two water bombers, according to the announcement by the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib.

The Brussels government requested European assistance, and additional helicopters and planes from the Czech Republic, Sweden, and the Netherlands were deployed. The fire, the worst recorded in Belgium in the last three decades, has destroyed approximately 1,600 hectares of vegetation near the town of Baelen, located about 25 kilometers from the border with Germany.

German firefighters began to assist in extinguishing the fire on Friday evening, and the Belgian civil protection agency requested support from the military. This situation has been exacerbated by the fifth heatwave in the last three months, affecting numerous European countries. Firefighters and farmers in the area managed to pump water from local lakes to combat the flames.