Firefighters battle wildfire tearing through Belgian nature reserve

Firefighters battled a wildfire tearing through Belgium's largest nature reserve on Saturday, with the blaze described as the country's worst in recent history.

Residents were ordered to evacuate two nearby villages as the flames consumed a third of the High Fens, with local officials warning the fire - which has been burning since Friday - could reach homes.

Water-bombing aircraft and helicopters were sent from across Europe to aid the firefighters working in the park, near Belgium's eastern border with Germany.

It was among a number of wildfires burning across Europe on Saturday, including a forest fire which caused hundreds of residents to leave their home in south-western France.

Local officials in Belgium said the blaze remained out of control as of Saturday afternoon.

Nicolas Yernaux, spokesman for the regional authorities in Wallonia, said the fire was the country's "largest in recent history".

"There is a risk that the fire could reach homes, but we are deploying all available resources to protect them," he said, with a nearby gymnasium opened to accommodate those evacuating their homes.

Authorities said they had been hampered by weather conditions as well as the park's terrain - which consists of bog-like territory, moorland and forests.

Firefighters had "allowed parts of the heathland to burn because the area is very difficult to access", Yernaux said.

Gregory Melotte, one of those working to extinguish the blaze, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF: "We managed to calm the fire coming from the plain, to prevent it from spreading into the fir forest. We still succeeded in our mission, but it's not over yet.

"The flames are coming towards us, the wind has shifted twice, once in our favour, once against us."

The country activated the EU's civil protection mechanism, triggering reinforcements from other countries.

European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said two Swedish water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters, one from the Czech Republic and one from the Netherlands, were on their way.

Meanwhile, local officials said 650 residents evacuated their homes as a wildfire burned in Landes, south-western France.

The fire began on Thursday and, according to authorities, reignited on Saturday - with more than 500 firefighters deployed to tackle the blaze.

Forest fires have also been reported in Croatia, Spain and Serbia since Friday, after a summer of extreme heat that has seen swathes of land across Europe either going up in flames or being scorched brown.

The EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.

-BBC