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Firefighters mounted a potentially decisive push Tuesday to encircle Belgium's largest wildfire in a century, as wind and rain continued to hamper air support operations over the High Fens nature reserve.
The blaze, which is charring a vast expanse of boggy peatlands, pine trees, and hiking trails,, grew over the weekend to half the size of Manhattan—3,000 hectares (7,500 acres)—with hundreds of firefighters working night and day to bring it under control.
A hard-to-access front toward the German border remains a concern, with residents of the border town of Monschau already under evacuation because of the smoke hazard.
Firefighters worked through the night to establish a crucial link between the eastern and northern fronts, establish a crucial link between.
Water-bombing aircraft from several countries have been deployed, with two Norwegian helicopters the latest to fly in on Monday night, but have repeatedly been grounded by low cloud and rain. Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands have also sent aircraft.
A huge area has been blanketed by a thick plume of yellowish smoke, with fumes detected as far away as eastern France, where authorities issued an air-pollution alert.
The smoke triggered evacuations in one Belgian village and two hamlets of a second, with residents of the hamlet of Sourbrodt given the green light to return home on Monday night.
Europe has been swept by weeks of devastating wildfires fuelled by dry conditions and a historically hot summer, with France, Greece, Portugal and Spain also battling major fires.
The High Fens blaze broke out in an area ravaged by massive fires in 1911, during a similar run of heatwaves. It is the country's largest wildfire since then.
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