Belgium Battles Record Wildfire as Flames Threaten German Border
12 sources across 10 countries
Who reported this
- Der Spiegel
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- The Guardian
- BBC News
- La Nacion
- La Tercera
- The Japan Times
- NRC
- Daily Maverick
- Taipei Times
- Bangkok Post
- Associated Press
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Belgium is currently battling the largest wildfire in its modern history, with flames destroying approximately 3,000 hectares of the High Fens nature reserve. The blaze, which broke out on Friday in an area of pine forests and peatlands, has prompted international assistance and evacuations in both Belgium and Germany. Approximately 600 people in the Belgian municipalities of Waimes and Bütgenbach were ordered to evacuate on Saturday. In Germany, authorities in the town of Monschau ordered the evacuation of 17 houses in the Ruitzhof and Geisberg areas on Sunday night as flames moved within 300 meters of the buildings.
Emergency efforts involve over 250 personnel and 120 vehicles, supported by the Belgian army and firefighters from Germany and Luxembourg. Aerial support includes two Swedish water bombing aircraft and four helicopters, two of which were provided by the Netherlands. Officials state that the rugged terrain, consisting of peat bogs and limited access roads, has made firefighting complex. Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin noted that unpredictable, shifting winds have further complicated the operation.
The wildfire is part of a broader wave of extreme weather across Europe. In Greece, two people died and over 500 were evacuated following twin fires on the island of Salamina. Other reports indicate a soldier died fighting a blaze in Aragon, Spain, and a fire in Croatia killed one person and injured 40. Experts and officials cited in several reports link these events to human caused climate change and record high temperatures across the continent.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- These outlets emphasized the link between the wildfires and human caused climate change and the long term environmental loss.
- Centre
- These outlets focused on the factual scale of the fire and the logistical challenges of the firefighting operation.
- Centre-right
- These outlets highlighted the immediate threat to residential areas and the specific evacuation orders in the German border zone.
Sources
- Centre Associated Press: Firefighters battle wildfires in Belgium and Greece as 2 die on an island near Athens - AP News
- Centre BBC News: Two dead and hundreds evacuated after twin fires break out on Greek island
- Centre Bangkok Post: Europe wildfires: latest developments
- Centre-left Daily Maverick: Belgium’s biggest wildfire on record heads towards Germany
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Monschau: 17 Houses Evacuated Due to Forest Fire in the High Fens
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Monschau: Flames Advance Toward Town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Houses Evacuated, Fire Department in Night Operation
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: Border region to NRW: Forest fire in Belgium has already destroyed 3,000 hectares of vegetation
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: Heat Live Blog: Authorities order evacuation of parts of Monschau
- Centre-right La Nacion: Two dead in Greece and a record fire in Belgium advances toward the border with Germany
- Centre-right La Tercera: Germany orders partial evacuation of border zone with Belgium due to large fire that has destroyed 3 thousand hectares
- Centre NRC: The forest of the Belgian High Fens was made more resilient with rewetting and more diverse planting. 'Now years of work have gone up in smoke'
- Centre-left Taipei Times: Belgium battling record wildfire, evacuating people
- Centre-left The Guardian: Wildfires kill two in Greece and torch Belgian nature reserve
- Centre The Japan Times: Belgium races to tame huge wildfire creeping toward Germany
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.