Wave of Wildfires Hits the Netherlands as Drought Pushes Fire Risk to Highest Level Across the Country
A massive blaze on a military training site near 't Harde has burned about 500 hectares, with smoke visible from space, while smaller fires have broken out in Limburg, Drenthe, Brabant, and elsewhere. Authorities have raised the wildfire risk to the highest level in 23 of 25 safety regions.
A series of wildfires has broken out across the Netherlands over the past 48 hours, driven by an unusually long dry spell, low humidity, and strong easterly winds. The largest is still burning on a military training ground near 't Harde, in the Veluwe region of Gelderland, with smoke visible from space and reaching as far as England.
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The fire at 't Harde
The blaze broke out around 11:30 on Wednesday morning at the Artillerie Schietkamp (Artillery Shooting Camp), a military training and firing range. According to a spokesperson for the Royal Marechaussee, the fire started during a military exercise on the shooting range, although whether the exercise itself caused the fire is still under investigation.
Within hours, the fire had grown to an exceptional size. By Wednesday evening, the affected area covered around 500 hectares (5 square kilometres), with the burning front stretching about 2.2 kilometres long. The smoke plume drifted west and was visible and smellable across much of the country, including in Amsterdam and The Hague, with satellite imagery showing it reaching as far as Norwich in eastern England.
The Veiligheidsregio Noord- en Oost-Gelderland scaled up to GRIP 2, a level of emergency coordination used for major incidents involving multiple services. Between 100 and 150 firefighters worked overnight to keep the fire contained. By Thursday morning, a spokesperson said the fire had "unfortunately not become smaller" overnight, and warned that picking-up winds during the day could worsen smoke and odour problems again.
The Air Force deployed five firefighting helicopters, including Chinooks fitted with so-called "Bambi Buckets" to drop large quantities of water on the fire from above. Ground crews have had to fight the blaze from a distance and from designated paths only, because unexploded ammunition on the training site makes much of the terrain too dangerous to enter directly. Firefighting teams from across the country, including drone teams from Twente and logistical support from Utrecht, have been brought in to help. The A28 motorway between Harderwijk and Wezep was closed in both directions on Wednesday and reopened on Thursday morning.
The national coordinator for wildfire control, Edwin Kok of the Dutch Institute for Public Safety, set up a national coordination centre in Zeist to help manage the response. He described the fire at 't Harde as "exceptionally large" and warned that fully extinguishing it could take days.
Other fires across the country
Although 't Harde is the largest blaze, it is far from the only one.
In Limburg, a major wildfire broke out on Wednesday night near camping site De Heldense Bossen, between the villages of Helden and Kessel, in the municipality of Peel en Maas. By Thursday morning, the fire had grown to around 30,000 square metres and was still not under control. The Veiligheidsregio Limburg-Noord described it as a "slow expansion" with heavy smoke, and the local authorities have imposed an emergency ordinance, sealing off the area to outsiders. Residents and campers can stay, but no one else is allowed in, and drones are banned. A separate, smaller fire of around 7,000 square metres also broke out near Helden earlier on Wednesday morning.
In Drenthe, a heath fire ignited on Wednesday evening on a military training ground near the Baggelhuizerplas, just west of Assen. At its peak, the fire covered an area of roughly 50 by 50 metres. An NL-Alert was sent shortly before midnight to residents of nearby Bovensmilde and Witten. Multiple fire brigades responded, and the fire was brought under control just before midnight. The cause is not yet known. According to RTV Drenthe, this was already the fourth wildfire in the province in recent days, following earlier fires in Wateren, Zuidwolde, and Huis ter Heide.
Smaller wildfires also broke out earlier on Wednesday in Oosterhout, in Noord-Brabant, but were quickly brought under control.
Why now: the conditions behind the fires
The Netherlands has been unusually dry for weeks, and a strong easterly wind is bringing low-humidity air across the country from the continent. Together, these conditions create what fire services call "phase 2" wildfire risk, the highest officially recorded level. As of Thursday, 23 of the country's 25 safety regions are at phase 2, including, for the first time this season, Friesland, Drenthe, and Groningen. Only Amsterdam-Amstelland and Zaanstreek-Waterland do not register their wildfire risk through this system.
At phase 2, landowners, nature managers, and emergency services are on heightened alert. Visitors to nature reserves are urged to be especially careful with fire and cigarette ends.
Public health and longer-term concerns
The veiligheidsregio in Gelderland has been carrying out air quality measurements in villages, neighbourhoods, and campsites near the 't Harde fire. Although smoke is always harmful, officials say the levels measured so far are not high enough to warrant evacuation. Residents have been advised to keep windows and doors closed and turn off mechanical ventilation systems where smoke is noticeable.
For some people in 't Harde, the scale of this week's fire is bringing back memories of the so-called "inferno of 't Harde" in 1970, a wildfire that swept across the same region. Wildfire experts have repeatedly warned that the Veluwe is particularly vulnerable to large-scale forest fires, and that the risk of a serious wildfire affecting a Dutch village is realistic.
