A fire broke out in a moor area in the Netherlands on Wednesday. Firefighters have been trying to fight the fire ever since.
Horst – Firefighters have been fighting a moor fire in the south of the Netherlands near the border with North Rhine-Westphalia since Wednesday morning. The fire is not yet under control. As the security authorities in the north of the province of Limburg announced, fires were set all around by the emergency services in the affected moor area in order to be able to contain the fire in the Mariapeel area near the municipality of Horst.
The wave of forest fires is not leveling off. Experts expect a record-breaking forest fire season in Europe. There is hardly any improvement in sight.
Moor fire near the NRW border: the fight could last for days
According to the Dutch broadcaster, the fire has spread to an area of 34 hectares and is not yet under control. It could therefore take days before the fire can be extinguished by the fire brigade. So far no people have been injured. Meanwhile, access to the site west of the border town of Venlo has been banned.
The residents of around 30 houses near the fire area were not evacuated, but were advised to leave their apartments and houses. But most people stayed at home because they weren’t too worried. Two years ago, a moor fire also raged nearby for weeks, ultimately destroying 800 square meters of natural space. ( nz/dpa )
