The uncontrollable "mega-fires" that are currently taking place this summer in France, Spain and Portugal are caused by high summer temperatures and are becoming more and more frequent. In Belgium, temperatures are also rising.
People are beginning to wonder whether Belgian forests are in danger. In the spring of 2011, 1399 hectares of the High Fens and 800 hectares of the Kempen forest went up in smoke. These are not the only fragile areas of the country.
Walloon Brabant is home to a pine forest of Scots pines, trees known to emit "highly flammable volatile organic compounds" as well as a "litter of pinecones and dead wood which is also very flammable," explains Alain Peeters, agro-ecologist for eco-association Terre Vivante.
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Belgian forests are all the more fragile because they contain a lot of dead wood. The country may be spared the mega-fires of Southern Europe today but there is a real danger that if the climate emergency goes unchecked, Belgian forests will not be spared in the future.
Belgian firefighters have recently received training in France to deal with these mega-fires, but the Belgian fire service does not as yet have Canadairs, aeroplanes capable of carrying and distributing large amounts of water over a forest fire from above.
A Canadair plane considered for the use of mega-fires by the Belgian fire service. Photo credit: Wikimedia
"France can provide such aircraft and we could have either the Dash, which can drop more than 8,000 litres of water or a Canadair that could come to Belgium and which drops a little more than 3,000 litres of water," explains Olivier Giust, captain of the firefighters of the Vesdre-Hogne-Plateaux zone.
In regard to preventative measures, Belgium is considering a review of spatial planning to provide for larger areas between forests and habitats.
