Is the High Fens fire over now that evacuees are home?
Fire crews tackled several local flare-ups in the High Fens overnight into 24 August, although the wildfire is contained and every Belgian and German resident evacuated during the emergency has been allowed home.
In 30 seconds
- The fire began near Baelen at about 13:00 on 14 August.
- Approximately 3,000 hectares of heath, peatland and forest were affected.
- All preventively evacuated Belgian residents could return home by 17:00 on 19 August.
- Belgium activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on 15 August.
Fire crews tackled several local flare-ups in the overnight into Monday, 24 August, while the authorities kept roads and nature areas closed despite having contained Belgium’s largest recorded wildfire. All residents evacuated from Belgian and German border communities have returned home, but the Walloon authorities warned that heat can remain hidden in peat and produce new outbreaks.
The fire began near at about 13:00 on 14 August and spread across roughly 3,000 hectares of heath, peatland and forest. Its scale, inaccessible terrain and exceptionally dry ground turned a regional emergency into a national operation supported from abroad. The provincial crisis management led by Liège Governor Hervé Jamar says the fire should no longer expand under comparable weather conditions, but that is not the same as declaring the site safe.
Residents of Sourbrodt, in Waimes, and Küchelscheid and Leykaul, in Bütgenbach, were evacuated preventively as smoke and the advancing fire threatened settlements. People were also moved from the Monschau area across the German border. The Walloon government’s consolidated crisis update says all Belgian evacuation orders had been lifted by 17:00 on 19 August. German evacuees were likewise permitted to return, while the reception centre in Malmedy remained available to anyone reluctant to go home immediately.
The immediate danger to homes has therefore receded, but the public is still barred from the affected perimeter. The N68, N672 and N676 remain closed, and police and officers of Wallonia’s Nature and Forest Department have fined walkers and cyclists who entered restricted areas. Air monitoring found no worrying carbon-monoxide concentration and recorded only a temporary rise in fine particles overnight on 22-23 August, according to the Walloon Public Service. People affected by smoke are nevertheless advised to close windows, limit strenuous outdoor activity and follow local instructions.
Federal Minister of Security and the Interior Bernard Quintin, of the French-speaking liberal MR, has emphasised the value of European assistance. Belgium activated the on 15 August, after which firefighting aircraft and helicopters arrived from several European partners. Speaking while the airborne response was being coordinated from Spa airfield, Quintin said Belgium could rely on Europe for as long as necessary. The confirmed that two rescEU aircraft from Sweden joined helicopters and specialist resources supplied by countries including the Netherlands, Norway and Germany.
That support illustrates the division of responsibilities inside Belgium. Wallonia manages nature, forests, access restrictions and much of the environmental recovery. Municipalities and the Liège governor handle local and provincial emergency measures. Federal services provide the , national crisis coordination and requests for international assistance. The European Union does not take command of the incident: its mechanism matches a requesting country with equipment and teams offered by participating states.
The operation has nevertheless opened a political argument about whether a wealthy country at growing wildfire risk should depend so heavily on borrowed aircraft. In an early meeting of the federal parliament’s Interior Committee, Quintin argued that the graduated emergency system had worked, while acknowledging that the response was not flawless and that lessons would be required. He told MPs it was too early for final conclusions while crews were still working.
That assessment was challenged from two distinct opposition directions. PVDA-PTB MP Natalie Eggermont blamed long-term economies in civil protection and argued that Belgium was insufficiently equipped for vegetation fires. PS parliamentary leader Pierre-Yves Dermagne focused on institutional follow-through, describing a recurring Belgian habit of commissioning plans and then leaving them unused. Anders MP Arthur Orlians had demanded the committee’s urgent recall so that Quintin could explain readiness, equipment and the timing of assistance. These objections do not negate the successful containment; they ask whether success depended on favourable European availability that might be scarcer when several countries burn simultaneously.
Federal Minister for Climate, Mobility and Ecological Transition , of Les Engagés, has placed the fire in a longer adaptation debate. He wants stronger scientific risk mapping, detection and warning capacity, and better analysis of effects on health, emergency services and critical infrastructure. Prevention, however, crosses Belgium’s institutional boundaries: climate coordination has a federal dimension, while land management and most environmental measures belong to the regions.
Where this is happening
View on map High Fens →The High Fens burned severely in 2011, when about 1,300 hectares were affected, but the 2026 incident has surpassed that benchmark. The deeper lesson is that Belgian wildfire planning can no longer treat major vegetation fires as an essentially southern European problem. Peat complicates suppression because combustion may continue underground after visible flames disappear, while dry heath and changing winds can accelerate a new surface fire.
EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management is due to visit affected areas in Belgium and Germany on 25 August. The next tests are practical rather than rhetorical: extinguishing residual hot spots, deciding when roads and reserves can reopen, measuring ecological and pollution damage, and establishing whether Belgium needs more national equipment or stronger shared European capacity. The cause of the fire and the full recovery cost have not yet been established publicly.
What to do
People travelling through eastern Wallonia should not plan routes using the closed sections of the N68, N672 or N676 and should check official Walloon crisis information before departure. Do not enter the closed High Fens nature perimeter, even if the fire appears extinguished: peat may still be hot underground, and smoke or unstable ground may remain. Returning residents should continue following local emergency instructions. Visitors planning walks or tourism in the area should choose another destination until authorities formally lift the closures; no reopening date is provided in the article.
Impact
Regional — The main disruption falls on eastern Wallonia and Belgium’s German-speaking border area. Several major roads and nature reserves remain closed, affecting residents, tourism and access to the High Fens.
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Voices & reactions
What the main actors are doing
Reported positions, summarised — not direct quotationsQuintin and the federal response
Federal Interior Minister Bernard Quintin says Belgium’s graduated crisis system functioned and that the country was not starting from zero. He acknowledges imperfect execution and the need for lessons, while presenting rapid access to European aircraft and teams as evidence that shared capacity is part of preparedness.
PVDA-PTB preparedness critique
PVDA-PTB MP Natalie Eggermont argues that Belgium was inadequately prepared because successive savings weakened civil protection. Her frame treats reliance on foreign aircraft not principally as European solidarity, but as evidence of a domestic equipment and investment deficit.
PS institutional critique
PS parliamentary leader Pierre-Yves Dermagne focuses on implementation, warning that Belgium has repeatedly produced evaluations and plans without ensuring that they shape operational capacity. This perspective asks for enforceable follow-up across Belgium’s divided competences.
Crucke’s prevention frame
Federal Climate Minister Jean-Luc Crucke argues that larger vegetation fires reflect a changing climate-risk profile and require scientific mapping, early warning and coordination. His approach shifts attention from emergency hardware alone towards prevention and adaptation involving federal and regional governments.
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