ConflictBelgium's Record 3,000-Hectare Fire Doubles as Europe Battles Heat-Driven BlazesAired August 17, 2026 at 12:17 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00A fire in Belgium's High Fens nature0:02reserve more than doubled to around0:03[music] 3,000 hectares in 24 hours to0:06Sunday morning, becoming the largest0:08wildfire [music] in the country's0:09recorded history as multiple blazes burn0:11across Europe in persistent heat and dry0:14conditions. That overnight [music]0:15expansion in a single day pushed the0:17Belgian blaze past any fire previously0:19recorded in the country.0:20>> [music]0:21>> In Liege province, 600 people were0:23evacuated and more than 250 firefighters0:25and emergency personnel were deployed to0:27the fire lines. [music] And on Saturday,0:29the EU civil protection mechanism was0:31activated to bring in three helicopters0:32and two water bombing aircraft from0:34Sweden, [music] the Netherlands, and the0:36Czech Republic. The German evacuation0:38came Friday in the Hurken [music]0:39forest. European aerial support was0:41activated Saturday. Residents in Germany0:43began returning Saturday [music] evening0:45as that fire was brought under0:46significant control and by Sunday0:48morning, the Belgian fire had doubled0:49[music] to its record scale while a0:50separate blaze in Spain has already0:52burned for more than a week. In Spain, a0:54blaze burning for more than a week in0:56Aragon's northern Huesca province0:57continues to threaten a 1,000-year-old0:58[music]0:59monastery, underscoring how prolonged1:02heat and drought are straining fire1:03lines in several countries at once. This1:05strain stretches from Belgium's High1:07Fens nature [music] reserve to Germany's1:08Hurken forest and to northern Huesca in1:11Spain's Aragon region,1:12>> [music]1:12>> part of a wider emergency that has also1:14involved fires in France, Croatia, and1:17Greece. Containment of the Belgian fire1:19[music] and the immediate risk to1:20communities and to the historic1:21monastery in Spain remain unresolved.1:24And this update comes from a single1:25video report published August [music]1:2716th that has not yet been independently1:29corroborated.1:30Like and follow for more stories that1:32matter. [music]Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗