Belgium's largest wildfire on record burns 27 sq km, spreads toward German border amid European heatwave

A wildfire that broke out on Friday in Belgium's Liege province has burned more than 27 sq km — nearly double Belgium's previous record fire of 14 sq km set in 2011 — and spread east towards Germany, prompting evacuation of about 600 residents from the border municipalities of Waimes and Butgenbach. More than 250 emergency personnel from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were deployed; the blaze came after temperatures touched roughly 37°C in Belgium, part of a European summer in which some 500,000 hectares have burned across the EU. The fire added to a pattern of record heat across Europe, with west London recording its hottest day of the year at 38.1°C earlier in the week.