Hautes Fagnes fire scar mapped at 3,366 hectares as roads reopen

Walloon authorities have mapped 3,366 hectares affected by the Hautes Fagnes fire

The new assessment shows the scale of the burned area more clearly after smoke, cloud and the continuing emergency operation complicated earlier measurements. According to the reporting based on SPW calculations, the affected surface is comparable to Uccle and Forest combined. The figure describes the area reached by the fire; it is not yet a detailed ecological assessment of how severely every hectare burned.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control after several days of work, but crews continued cooling residual hotspots in peat and other organic ground. Belgium’s Defence Ministry said on 19 August that six Panther firefighting vehicles and about 40 military firefighters had supported civilian teams around the clock. It said soft terrain restricted heavy vehicles largely to established roads and paths, while buried heat required prolonged soaking even after visible flames had disappeared.

The immediate danger to surrounding communities has eased, but access restrictions remain central to the response. SPW Environment lists unstable trees, smouldering ground, local smoke, exposed historical munitions and disturbance to weakened wildlife among the remaining hazards. Its latest notice stresses that reopening the main roads does not lift the bans covering affected forests and nature reserves.

Air monitoring has provided a more reassuring picture away from short-lived smoke episodes. SPW Environment said carbon-monoxide checks found no worrying concentrations and that overall air quality remained classified as good over the 24 hours to 23 August, despite a temporary rise in fine particles overnight. IRCEL-CELINE attributed such local peaks to smoke combined with weak dispersion and temperature inversion.

The Hautes Fagnes contain peatland, heath and forest habitats whose condition cannot be judged from the perimeter alone. The next phase will therefore move from emergency mapping to field surveys of burn severity, wildlife, soils, water and vegetation. Authorities have not announced a verified cause of the fire. Visitors should consult the Walloon government’s interactive restriction map and stay outside every closed sector while monitoring and ecological assessments continue.