BRUSSELS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Belgium's largest wildfire on record had scorched about 2,000 hectares of vegetation in the High Fens area of eastern Belgium by Saturday evening, according to local authorities.
The Walloon Public Service confirmed that the blaze had set a national record for the largest area burned by a wildfire.
Firefighting operations continued nearly 30 hours after the blaze broke out at around 2 p.m. Friday.
Around 600 people have been evacuated from nearby communities, according to local media. About 500 residents of Sourbrodt, in the municipality of Waimes, were evacuated as a precaution, along with around 100 people in Butgenbach.
The evacuation orders covered 15 streets in Sourbrodt and seven in Butgenbach.
International assistance was being mobilized under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, with two Dutch military helicopters, a Czech firefighting helicopter and two Swedish firefighting aircraft being deployed to support efforts to contain the blaze.
Local authorities said winds were hampering firefighting operations and could further fuel the spread of the fire.
