AMSTERDAM: Firefighters from Germany, Belgium and France have been deployed to the Netherlands on Friday to assist in efforts to contain a number of fires that broke out on military training grounds. This marks the first time that the Netherlands has requested foreign assistance for combating wildfires, according to local authorities. Some 30 firefighting vehicles from France and Germany are to be mainly deployed in the south-eastern region near Eindhoven, while 67 special firefighting forces have been sent from Germany.
A major fire broke out on Wednesday at a military training ground near the town of t'Harde, some 80 kilometres east of Amsterdam. The flames spread quickly and are still not under control, according to police. Further fires have since broken out at other military training sites, including in the south of the country. The cause of the fires remains unclear, with experts assuming that exercises involving explosives may have sparked the fires due to the dry conditions. Firefighting efforts have been hampered by severe drought and unusually high temperatures, according to the authorities. So far, no one has been harmed and there is no risk to the population at present.
Meanwhile, France said on Friday it has sent firefighting units to the Netherlands to help battle woodland blazes flaring in several areas. Many of the fires, which sparked on Wednesday and Thursday, were raging in land used for military training, including an artillery range, in the south. Stretched Dutch authorities requested help facing the emergency through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, with France and Germany responding.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that Paris had despatched 41 civil security personnel and 10 vehicles. A Dutch military spokesman, Major Mike Hofman, on Friday confirmed that army "training grounds were in use at the time the fires broke out". He said an investigation was under way "examining whether there is a connection between the military operations and the origin of the fires". The head of the Dutch armed forces said on Thursday that extra precautions were being taken on terrain used for drills because of a drought currently parching the country. He added, however, that the military exercises being conducted would not be suspended.
A spokesman for Dutch police service the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee said that while the fire had broken out during a military exercise, it was not clear if it had been caused by the drill. The Dutch air force said on X that it had deployed three helicopters to help tackle the blaze. "For the Netherlands, this is truly a fire of exceptional magnitude", Edwin Kok, the national coordinator for forest fire control at the Netherlands Institute for Public Safety said. According to Kok, putting out the fire could still take several days, given the weather conditions. — AFP
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