Belgian firefighters battle blaze tearing through nature reserve

Gregory Melotte, one of those working to extinguish the blaze, told Belgian broadcaster 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 flames are coming towards us, the wind has shifted twice, once in our favour, once against us.”

The country activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to trigger reinforcements from other countries.

European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said two Swedish water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were on their way.

Meanwhile, local officials said 650 residents evacuated their homes as a wildfire burned in Landes, south-western France.

The fire began on Thursday and, according to authorities, reignited on Saturday – with more than 500 firefighters deployed to tackle the blaze.

Forest fires have also been reported in Croatia, Spain and Serbia since Friday, after a summer of extreme heat which has seen swathes of land across Europe either going up in flames or scorched brown.

The EU’s climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.