Heat wave: Belgium soon on fire?
A fire broke out in the dunes in De Haan. © BelgaImage
A fire broke out on Tuesday in the dunes between Le Coq and Bredene, more precisely near Vosseslag. The spread of the fire was rapid, over a distance of 400 meters. In question ? Heat and drought. Result: five cars were burned in the blaze, now under control, and six others were damaged. Firefighters will continue to spray water to prevent any further fires. “We will accept that the fire does not start again, because there is a lot of wind. Or, it is an aggravating factor“, underlined the sappers.
In Écaussinnes this time, a fire broke out, for an undetermined reason, in fields, burning a dozen hectares of crops. In Oudsbergen, in the province of Limburg, another fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon in a natural and wooded area near Zavelstraat. Maaseik firefighters, who are still battling the blaze, have requested reinforcements from nearby posts. The current climatic conditions have also caused other fires in different places in the Dinaphi area (Dinant-Philippeville): a field and an agricultural machine on fire in Couvin – between 8,000 and 9,000 square meters went up in smoke. In Feschaux (Beauraing), a brush fire threatened two homes. Another brush fire took place in Ciney. In Éprave (Rochefort), rue de l’Aujoûle, the fire broke out in a wood. “We have each time arrived on fires that we have been able to maintain. It’s very dry and windy but so far there hasn’t been anything big“Said area spokesperson Patrice Liétart. “For the moment”, therefore.
Forest fires like in France?
Should we fear forest fires in the future, such as France is currently encountering, destroying thousands of hectares of vegetation? For climatologist and IPCC member Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, the answer is yes. “The meteorological conditions conducive to fires will become more and more proven, in the Mediterranean rim in any case. But a little further north, that is to say at home, it will come a little later, with a little less intensity. But I think we should also expect the drought to cause it here, declared the UCLouvain expert at the microphone of Bel RTL this Tuesday morning, before the fires declared on the Coast and in Wallonia. Agricultural fires, straw fires and things like that, already observed in Belgium, show that the weather conditions are favorable for fires. At home, we can have forest fires too.“
The heat wave currently hitting Belgium, and more generally, Western Europe, relentlessly illustrates – for those who still doubted it – the consequences of global warming. If nothing is done, these heat wave episodes will become more and more frequent, reaching extremes inconceivable a few years ago. “We’re going to approach 50 degrees, alert the climatologist. It’s not next year but in the course of this century: we’re going to reach extremes that will approach 50 degrees, if we don’t manage to stabilize the climate.“