EU aircraft sent to Belgium as it fights record wildfire

After Belgium requested emergency reinforcements, the European Union sent three 'helicopters' and two 'water bomber aircrafts? to tackle a record wildfire that broke all records in eastern Belgium.

Since Friday, local firefighter, farmers, and the army are trying to put out the blaze that has been burning in the High Fens - Belgium's largest natural reserve.

A spokesperson for the Wallonia region administration in Belgium said that by early Saturday afternoon it had already burned 1,600 acres.

The fire is the largest ever recorded in Belgium. It surpasses a 2011 blaze that burned nearly 1,400 acres, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System.

Residents in the village Sourbrodt were warned by local authorities to prepare for an evacuation. Theo Francken, Belgian Minister of Defence, said on X that a children's camp was being evacuated in the area. This week Europe including Belgium experienced its fifth heatwave. Scientists claim that climate change caused by humans has increased the chances of hot, dry conditions which allow wildfires spread more quickly and burn longer.

When a country asks for emergency assistance, the EU coordinates?the deployment of extra resources from European countries. Hadja Lahbib, EU Crisis Commissar, said on X that the aircraft?sent to Belgium?Saturday came from the Czech Republic, Sweden, and the Netherlands. (Reporting and editing by Kirsty Donovan, Barbara Lewis, and Kate Abnett)

(source: Reuters)