Firefighters from all three Limburg emergency zones left Bilzen-Hoeselt on Saturday morning to help tackle a major wildfire in the High Fens that has already spread across about 850 hectares.
The fire broke out on Friday afternoon in a hard-to-reach area near Fagne des Deux-Séries in the municipality of Baelen.
During the night from Friday to Saturday, the Liège fire brigade asked their Limburg colleagues for support. Fire service commanders in Limburg then decided which stations could send vehicles to Wallonia.
Officials said Limburg still has enough personnel, vehicles and equipment available for its own operations, despite the extreme risk of wildfires in the province’s nature areas.
The South-West Limburg zone deployed a command vehicle and two wildfire engines from the Heusden-Zolder and Beringen stations.
In the North Limburg zone, Lommel provided one wildfire engine. The East Limburg emergency zone sent a water tanker from Voeren and a wildfire engine from Bilzen-Hoeselt.
At about 5:00 on Saturday, the vehicles and an estimated 18 firefighters departed from Bilzen-Hoeselt for the High Fens.
Around ten days ago, Limburg firefighters also provided support during a wildfire in Oostrum, in Dutch Limburg.
