Belgium tackles enormous wildfire as French PM booed on visit to affected region – Europe live

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Morning opening: Wildfires rage in Belgium, France, Greece

Jakub Krupa

Belgium’s King Philippe will visit the area affected by what is believed to be the largest wildfire in the country’s history this morning, after a weekend of intense firefighting in the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve.

A drone view shows smoke rising from burnt fields and forests during a wildfire near Waimes, in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes) region, Belgium.

The fire has been raging since Friday afternoon, burning more than 3,000 hectares of land, provisional figures show.

Over the weekend, the blaze crept closer to the German border, prompting the precautionary evacuation of parts of the town of Monschau.

As of Monday morning, light rain helped to stop the spread of the fire east towards Germany, but the blaze continued to grow in the north-eastern direction, local media reported.

Smoke rising from a charred landscape in the aftermath of a wildfire in the Hautes Fagnes (High Fens) nature reserve, in Waimes, Belgium.

Belgian newspaper Le Soir warned: “This is no longer just a warning,” lamenting the severe impact of the summer heatwave and the mounting losses.

Over the weekend, large wildfires were also reported in France and Greece.

I will bring you all the updates during the day.

It’s Monday, 17 August 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.

Key events

French PM booed on visit to wildfires affected region

Over in France, prime minister Sébastien Lecornu was booed on arrival to Le Porge, one of the towns most affected by the massive wildfire in the Gironde region last month.

This aerial photograph shows burnt properties in an area hit by the wildfire that swept through the Gironde region in Le Porge, south-western France.

Lecornu was set to meet with the local officials to discuss the reconstruction of the region, but a clip published by BFMTV showed a group of frustrated local residents booing his arrival.

He later left Le Porge without freely talking to residents, BFMTV noted, with some locals calling it “disrespectful” as the put out an empty chair as a symbol of his absence.

But the French PM did speak to a selected group of representatives from the area, the broadcaster noted, before leaving for Mérignac for further talks.

Greek island wildfire 'largely extinguished' after claiming two lives

Two fires on the Greek island of Salamis near Athens that claimed two lives and led to the evacuation of nearly 600 people have been largely extinguished, the fire service said this morning, via AFP.

A man stands in front of a burnt area as smoke raises into the sky during a wildfire in the island of Salamis, near Athens, Greece.

“The situation is better, there is no active front,” a fire department spokesman told AFP, adding that two helicopters and over 200 firefighters remained in the area.

The fires broke out Sunday near packed beaches in the south and east of the island just west of Athens that is popular with day travellers. The evacuations were carried out by boat.

People sit on a boat as they are evacuated during a wildfire in the island of Salamis, near Athens, Greece.

Wildfires kill two in Greece and torch Belgian nature reserve

Angela Giuffrida

An elderly couple died in fires on the Greek island of Salamis on Sunday and Belgium is battling its largest modern-day wildfire at an inaccessible area near Germany, in the latest wave of European wildfires.

The couple died outside their home in the Peristeria beach area of Salamis, Greece’s coastguard said. More than 500 people were ordered to evacuate.

A firefighting helicopter drops water during a wildfire in the island of Salamina, near Athens.

In Spain, a soldier died on Sunday while helping efforts to extinguish a large wildfire in Aragon, authorities said. French reinforcements were due to help contain the wildfire in the north-eastern region, which has raged for a week and threatened a 1,000-year-old monastery.

In Portugal, hundreds of firefighters were battling a series of blazes. At a wildfire near Dine, a village close to the border with Spain, five firefighters were injured when their vehicle caught fire, local media reported. Other fires were burning near the Spanish border, including at Boticas and Chavez.

Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather around the world, driving more frequent and deadlier disasters from heatwaves to floods to wildfires.

Much of Europe is experiencing a new period of intense heat, creating conditions conducive to wildfire outbreaks.

On Friday a fire engulfed ⁠homes in a Croatian holiday resort, killing one person, injuring 40 and forcing 1,200 to evacuate, officials said, as the EU warned that pockets of “very extreme” wildfire conditions stretched across the continent.

Hundreds more people were evacuated from villages in western Germany and south-west France, while stranded holidaymakers were picked up from beaches threatened by flames in Greece and the army rescued historical relics in Spain.