Large areas of vegetation have gone up in flames in several wildfires across the Netherlands. According to a report by Dutch public broadcaster NOS on Friday, two fires alone that broke out on military training grounds near Oirschot in the south and Weert in the southeast of the country destroyed a combined total of around 135 hectares.
Firefighters were deployed at multiple locations, receiving support from neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia and from France.
At least five wildfires had already spread across several parts of the country on Thursday. The civilian airport of Kempen, located in the municipality of Budel near the Belgian border, was evacuated on Thursday afternoon.
Throughout the day, fires broke out on military training grounds in Weert in the southeast and Oirschot in the south. Additional smaller fires also ignited near the municipalities of Noordwijk in the west and Kessel in the southeast.
A fire had already broken out on Wednesday on a military training ground near the village of 't Harde in Gelderland in the east of the country and as of Friday, it had still not been extinguished.
Edwin Kok, the national coordinator for wildfire control at the Dutch Institute for Public Safety, warned that resources were exhausted. "We have several major fires and only a single helicopter team available," he told broadcaster NOS. "With five fires simultaneously, this is an unprecedented situation, even for us."
Faced with the scale of the challenge, Dutch authorities submitted an assistance request through the EU on Thursday evening, according to the Bonn fire department. Emergency personnel were dispatched from neighboring Germany and France to provide support.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, crews from Bonn, Düsseldorf, Leverkusen, Königswinter, and Ratingen have been assisting their colleagues in the neighboring country since Friday morning, according to the Bonn fire department. A total of 67 emergency personnel, 21 vehicles, and three trailers were deployed, the department announced.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced on the social media platform X on Friday that 41 civil protection workers and ten rescue vehicles were being sent to the Netherlands.
Several of the fires broke out on military training grounds, though authorities say the causes remain unclear. The commander of the Dutch armed forces, General Onno Eichelsheim, announced at a press conference that he had introduced additional precautionary measures for military exercises in response to the current dry conditions across the country.
A spokesperson for the Dutch national police said on Friday evening that investigations had been launched to determine the causes of the fires. It is currently being examined "whether there is a connection between military operations and the origin of the fire," the spokesperson told news agency AFP.
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