BERLIN: A German town close to Belgium on Sunday urged some of its residents to evacuate as the worst wildfire in modern Belgian history raged just over the border.
According to a statement from the town of Monschau, the blaze’s front lies currently 1.5km from the Germany-Belgium border and just 1.8km from the nearest inhabited area.
While the flames are not currently expected to reach German territory, “severe air pollution due to the smoke” is to be expected, the town statement said.
“It has therefore been decided to recommend that residents of areas close to the border leave these zones,” added the municipality, which has a population of 12,000 inhabitants.
The Belgian authorities have already ordered the evacuation of the settlement of Kuechelscheid, a 10-minute drive from Monschau.
Some 1,800 people were evacuated in western Germany overnight Thursday to Friday as a result of a wildfire, one of many to rage across a tinder-dry and drought-hit Europe this summer.
