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Wind spurs forest fire in western Germany, with scores evacuated
Around 1,800 people fled their homes in western Germany after a wildfire spread nearby, officials said Friday, with helicopters and army equipment deployed to battle the country's largest forest fire of the summer.
The forest fire had come close to homes in the village of Gey in the Huertgenwald district, located near the Belgian and Dutch borders.
The fire expanded on Friday from 25 hectares (around 60 acres) to 300 hectares, as officials warned that weather conditions would make bringing the fire under control a challenge and evacuated homes remained under threat.
Dry air, strong winds and hot temperatures are providing "very unfavourable conditions for fighting forest fires", local fire brigade spokesman Peter Berndgen told the Bild newspaper, estimating that the firefighting operation could last several more days.
Driven by strong winds, the flames had reached within 100- 150 meters (325-500 feet) of houses in Huertgenwald, officials said, with no immediate prospects for the return of evacuated residents.
The local government said in a statement on Friday that additional emergency personnel were being requested.
Explosions were heard overnight as the fire set off World War II munitions which hampered the fight against the blaze in the hilly Eifel egion of North Rhine-Westphalia state.
Residents of the town were urged to "take only the most important personal items" with them as the fire drew nearer, with temporary shelters set up in a school and a sports centre, officials said.
Around 300 emergency services were deployed in an operation backed by helicopters and army vehicles as emergency crew cut firebreaks through the woods.
"It's a really alarming feeling," resident Sabine Baldus told broadcaster NTV.
She said she saw columns of black smoke and left during the night. Now staying with an uncle nearby, she said the "smell is bad here too and there is ash falling from the sky".
Chancellor Friedrich Merz thanked the emergency workers "for their tireless efforts" in a post on X.
- Further fires, parching heat -
Smaller forest and brush fires were reported across Germany -- and elsewhere in Europe -- amid persistently hot and dry weather, with temperatures above 30C in much of the country.
The German Weather Service (DWD) warned that the heatwave would last through the weekend, with temperatures in some areas expected to hit 39C.
In the town of Vordereifel, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of Huertgenwald, authorities warned residents to pack for possible evacuation as a precaution against another forest fire.
Overnight, emergency services were also fighting a wildfire further east near the Moehnesee lake, also in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Around 100 emergency services managed to contain that fire, despite dangerous conditions.
Across the country, emergency crews have been battling forest and brush fires for days amidst persistent hot and dry weather.
The EU's global warming monitor has said that Western Europe experienced its hottest June-July on record as climate change fuels an historic summer of heat, drought and wildfires.
A heatwave in late June saw Germany break its temperature record for three days in a row, hitting 41.7C.
Temperatures of up to 39C are expected in western Germany on Friday, with the current heatwave set to last into the weekend.
Meteorologist Ozden Terli warned that would mean land "drying out further".
Even if rain does fall soon, in many parts of Germany "the soil is dried solid, so not much moisture will be able to trickle in at first," Terli told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
"We need a period of sustained rain, which is not in sight."
M.Nasser--CdE
