A wildfire tearing through Belgium's largest nature reserve, the High Fens, has become one of the most extensive in the country's history. Local authorities reported that the fire remained out of control as of Saturday afternoon. The flames have consumed a third of the reserve, prompting evacuation orders for residents of two nearby villages. The fire started on Friday and, with strong winds, posed a threat to nearby settlements. This was reported by infohub.kz.

Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the regional authorities in Wallonia, described the fire as the country's largest in recent history. "There is a risk that the fire could reach homes, but we are deploying all available resources to protect them," he said. A nearby gymnasium has been opened to accommodate those evacuated.

Firefighters have been hampered by weather conditions and the park's difficult terrain, which includes bogs and moorland. Yernaux noted that firefighters had allowed parts of the heathland to burn because the area is very difficult to access. Gregory Melotte, a firefighter, told RTBF: "We managed to calm the fire coming from the plain, to prevent it from spreading into the fir forest. We still succeeded in our mission, but it's not over yet. The wind has shifted twice, once in our favour, once against us."

Belgium activated the European Union's civil protection mechanism to request international assistance. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib confirmed that two Swedish water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were being dispatched.

Meanwhile, in south-western France, a wildfire in the Landes region forced 650 residents to evacuate their homes. The fire began on Thursday and reignited on Saturday, with more than 500 firefighters deployed to battle it.

Forest fires have also been reported in Croatia, Spain, and Serbia since Friday, following a summer of extreme heat across Europe. The EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.