As 60% of land in the European Union and the United Kingdom is currently under either drought warnings or alerts, Flanders has issued a code red for wildfire risk across the entire Region – meaning there is an "acute high danger" of fire.
Yesterday, the Antwerp fire brigade already called on people to postpone any planned barbecues and campfires to prevent fires, but Flanders has now also upped its risk code to the highest level.
The Region is currently "extremely dry," said the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI), which is predicting persistently hot temperatures around 35°C in the coming days, and therefore decided to raise the risk code to red from Thursday morning.
"The past summers are undoubtedly in everyone's memory: the drought prevailed at times. Today, too, we are in the middle of a very dry period," said Flemish Nature Minister Zuhal Demir.
However, Belgium is not taking additional measures to tackle the drought for the time being.
This is in stark contrast to other countries in the EU, such as France (where some municipalities have imposed a daily limit for water consumption), Italy (where large parts of the country are rationing water) and Spain (where a ban on watering gardens and washing cars was introduced).
What should Belgium do to combat the drought? Let @Maatjee know.
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1. 'Acute high danger': Code red for wildfire risk in all of Flanders
From tomorrow (Thursday 11 August), the risk code for wildfires will go from orange to red – the highest possible risk code – for all of Flanders due to the ongoing drought and heatwave, announced the Agency for Nature and Forest. Read more.
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