Gregory Melotte, one of those working to extinguish the fire, told Belgian radio station RTBF: “We managed to calm the fire coming from the plain to prevent it from spreading to the spruce forest. We have achieved our mission, but it is not over yet.” The flames are coming towards us, the wind has changed twice, once in our favor and once against us. “The country activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism to send reinforcements from other countries. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said two Swedish water bombing planes and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were on the way. Meanwhile, local officials said 650 residents evacuated their homes as a forest fire burned in the Landes, southwestern France. The fire started on Thursday and, according to authorities, was It reignited on Saturday, with more than 500 firefighters deployed to battle the blaze. Forest fires have also been reported in Croatia, Spain and Serbia since Friday, after a summer of extreme heat that has seen swathes of land across Europe go up in flames or scorch. The EU’s climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that Western Europe experienced the hottest June to July period on record.
