Large Wildfire in Limburg Burns into the Second Day, Still Not Under Control
The fire broke out on Monday and spread fast in the dry, hot conditions near Venray. It burned around 100 hectares and is still not under control, 300 firefighters and helicopters are still working.
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A large wildfire has been burning for two days in the Boschhuizerbergen nature reserve near Oostrum, in the North Limburg municipality of Venray, and as of Tuesday morning it is still not under control. Hundreds of firefighters are working to contain it, helped by military helicopters, in what officials have called a tougher fight than expected.
How it started and spread
The fire broke out around the late morning of Monday 3 August. In the dry, hot conditions, it spread quickly as the wind picked up. The area involved is largely pine forest, and the resin in the trees acts almost like a fuel, letting the fire climb high into the canopy and jump from treetop to treetop, which makes it especially hard to put out.
It grew fast. Early estimates on Monday afternoon put the area on fire at around 21 hectares. By Tuesday morning that had risen to about 100 hectares, roughly one square kilometre, with the safety region reporting that the fire was spreading from the south of the area towards the east. “It is tougher than expected,” a spokesperson for the Limburg-North safety region said, adding that a wildfire “can behave unpredictably” and often takes longer to fight than hoped.
The response
The scale of the operation has been large. At its height the incident was escalated to what is known in the Netherlands as GRIP 2, a level that brings in extra regional coordination beyond the immediate scene; it has since been scaled back to GRIP 1. Around 250 to 300 firefighters have been deployed, with crews coming from across the country to support the Limburg fire service, along with dozens of vehicles. Local farmers also pitched in, bringing water tanks to help supply the huge quantities of water needed for a long operation.
The fire has been fought from the air as well as the ground. Two army helicopters helped on Monday but had to stop at nightfall, because dropping water in the dark is unsafe when crews cannot see the firefighters working below. The helicopters returned on Tuesday morning, with the first water dropped at around 8.30am.
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The impact on the area
The fire has disrupted the surrounding area, though the human cost has so far been avoided. A campsite in the reserve, De Oude Barrier in Venray, was evacuated on Monday because of poor air quality, and its guests were taken to a nearby hotel. “It was a rather different way to wake up than we had expected,” one guest told NOS. The campsite is staying closed for the time being because of the smoke.
Residents nearby have received NL-Alerts, the national emergency phone warnings, about the smoke, and on Tuesday a fresh alert was sent covering more municipalities than before, after the wind shifted and widened the affected area. The smoke plume has been drifting east, bringing possible nuisance to villages including Maashees, Geijsteren and Wanssum; people affected are advised to close windows and doors and switch off mechanical ventilation. The safety region says soot particles are coming down on cars and garden furniture in the area, but that these are not dangerous to health and can simply be rinsed off with water.
Train services between Venray and Boxmeer have been suspended because of the fire and the firefighting operation. The rail manager ProRail initially expected the disruption to last until around 6pm on Tuesday, though that timing may change as the situation develops.
The current status
As of Tuesday morning, the fire had not spread further in the preceding hours and the situation was described as stable, but the blaze was still not under control. Parts of the 100-hectare area have burned out and been extinguished, while the fire continues in other places. The mayor of Venray, Michiel Uitdehaag, said the firefighting was expected to continue at least until 9am on Wednesday. “Fortunately, there is still no material damage in the form of buildings that have burned down, and no personal injury,” he said.
A dry, fire-prone summer
The blaze fits the pattern of a summer that has left the Netherlands unusually dry. The country has been in an official water shortage, with weeks of drought, low rivers and repeated heat, conditions in which a spark in a pine forest can escalate rapidly. It comes as large wildfires have burned across southern Europe this summer, in countries including Spain and France, to which Dutch firefighters were sent to help. This fire is far smaller than those, but it is a reminder that the Netherlands is not immune.
This is a developing story, and the details above reflect the situation as of Tuesday morning.