Firefighters battled underground peat fires in Waimes, Belgium on Tuesday (August 18) as the country's largest wildfire on record continued to smoulder beneath the surface. The blaze has burned 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres), far surpassing Belgium's previous record of close to 1,400 hectares set in 2011.

Firefighter Nicolas Henon explained the unique challenge of fighting peat fires, which burn underground and are difficult to detect. "It's the peat. It's burning internally, really. So it's a fire that's underground, which makes it difficult to see all the hot spots that may be there all the time," he said.

The fires have penetrated meters-deep peat bogs in the nature reserve, meaning they could take months to fully extinguish. Henon said finding and soaking the hot spots was crucial, but some areas remain invisible until they resurface.

Some 500 firefighters from Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg, along with farmers, soldiers and EU emergency aircraft, have been fighting the blaze.

The fire is part of Europe's ongoing struggle with extreme fire risk, as climate change creates hotter, drier conditions that fuel fast-spreading blazes across the continent.

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Belgium tries to control biggest wildfire as underground peat fire rages

VIDEO SHOWS: FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISHING SMOULDERING PEAT FIRES IN HIGH FENS NATURE PARK IN BELGIUM

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: WAIMES, BELGIUM (AUGUST 18, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF UNDERGROUND PEAT FIRES SMOULDERING

2. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISHING FIRES

3. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIREFIGHTER, NICOLAS HENON, SAYING:

"Well, it's the peat. It's burning internally, really. So it's a fire that's underground, which makes it difficult to see all the hot spots that may be there all the time, and that's the challenge. That's really what it comes down to."

4. VARIOUS OF UNDERGROUND PEAT FIRES SMOULDERING

5. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIREFIGHTER, NICOLAS HENON, SAYING:

"You really have to find the fire spots, the hot spots. And then, once we've found them, well, we have to thoroughly soak them to extinguish them as much as possible. There are some spots that we can't see right away, and it's only when they come back to the surface that we'll be able to properly flood them and put them out."

6. VARIOUS OF UNDERGROUND PEAT FIRES SMOULDERING

7. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIREFIGHTER, NICOLAS HENON, SAYING:

"Oh, I really don't know (when the fires will be extinguished). There are quite a lot of factors involved. I think there's the weather factor, and the factor of the operations we'll be carrying out on the ground. So I couldn't say at all how much longer this might continue."

8. HENON GETTING IN FIRE TRUCK

9. FIRE TRUCK DRIVING AWAY

10. VARIOUS OF UNDERGROUND PEAT FIRES SMOULDERING

11. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISHING FIRES

12. FIRES SMOULDERING

13. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISHING FIRES