Rainfall aids fight against Belgium's biggest wildfire, as blazes rip through Europe

BELGIUM: Rain over eastern Belgium on Monday (Aug 17) morning aided firefighters battling to contain the country's biggest wildfire on record, which had threatened to reach the German border.Wildfires have ripped through Europe this summer after successive severe heatwaves, fuelled by climate change, have intensified drought and left vegetation tinder-dry. Fires have now burned 576,000ha in Europe this year, data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed – an area twice the size of Luxembourg.Over the weekend, an elderly couple died as fires swept through the Greek island of Salamina, where 500 people were evacuated by ferry after gale-force winds pushed a wildfire towards residential areas, damaging houses. A blaze in Aragon, in northeastern Spain, destroyed 16,600ha, while