Flames tore through Belgium's largest nature reserve over the weekend, torching an area bigger than the city of Brussels and forcing hundreds of villagers to flee as the country's fifth heatwave of the summer turned ancient peat bogs into a tinderbox.

The blaze erupted Friday in the High Fens (Hautes Fagnes), a protected wetland plateau straddling the Belgian-German border, and by Saturday night had scorched roughly 2,700 hectares — about 27 square kilometers — according to RTE and other outlets tracking the fire's rapid overnight growth from an initial 1,600 hectares. Officials described it as the worst wildfire in the country's modern history, dwarfing a previous record blaze in the same region roughly a decade ago.

Villages emptied, tourists turned away

Around 600 residents of the villages of Sourbrodt and Bütgenbach were ordered out as a precaution, with a gymnasium in a neighboring municipality opened as an emergency shelter. Hikers and tourists were told to steer clear of the reserve, and at least one children's summer camp was evacuated as smoke turned the sky over nearby Eupen a sickly yellow. "You can't see a thing anymore, there's smoke everywhere," restaurant owner David Rodolfs told reporters near the fire zone.

No deaths or injuries have been reported. But Wallonia regional spokesman Nicolas Yernaux warned the danger was far from over. "There is a risk that the fire could reach homes, but we're deploying all available resources," he said, adding that an evacuation of Sourbrodt itself remained "under consideration" as crews battled the blaze into Saturday night.

"NEVER BEFORE HAS THE WILDFIRE SEASON STARTED SO EARLY IN THE YEAR AND REACHED SUCH NORTHERN LATITUDES." — EU Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib

The terrain itself has become one of the biggest obstacles. The High Fens is a raised bog crisscrossed by wooden boardwalks and spongy heathland that heavy trucks and engines simply cannot cross. Crews have instead pulled back to defensible edges of the forest and let stretches of open heath burn rather than risk sending firefighters into inaccessible peat. More than 250 emergency personnel from Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg have joined the effort, alongside local farmers who volunteered tractors and water tankers to help supply fire lines, according to Free Malaysia Today.

Brussels has activated the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism, drawing in reinforcements from across the bloc: a Dutch helicopter was first on scene, with two Swedish water-bombing planes and additional helicopters and crews from the Czech Republic also dispatched to help contain the fire, according to a report from Global Banking & Finance Review.

Temperatures in the region hit 37°C (99°F) in the days before the fire broke out, part of what officials say is Belgium's fifth heatwave of the summer. The High Fens last suffered a comparably devastating fire in 1911, during another period of extreme drought — a grim historical echo scientists say is becoming less rare as climate change dries out northern Europe's peatlands and pushes wildfire risk to latitudes once considered too wet and cool to burn.

Firefighters were bracing for another difficult day Sunday, with officials warning that shifting winds could push the fire toward populated areas even as reinforcements continue arriving from across the EU. Authorities have not yet released an official cause, though investigators are examining whether the drought conditions combined with dry lightning or human activity sparked the blaze.