This Friday morning, a fire broke out in the military area of ??Brecht, north of Brasschaat (Belgium), during a shooting exercise by the 11th Engineer Battalion. After several hours of fighting against the flames, with the assistance of Dutch helicopters, the situation was back under control on Saturday.
Military personnel on-site promptly called in the fire department. The fire nonetheless spread throughout the firing range, causing heavy smoke to spread in the region.
A Federal Police MD902 Explorer helicopter fitted with a Bambi bucket tried to extinguish the fire, but its capacity is limited to 900 litres per drop. Later in the day support came from the Royal Netherlands Air Force who sent two CH47D Chinook helicopters from airbase Gilze-Rijen, also equipped with Bambi buckets with a capacity of up to 10,000 litres each. 11th Engineer battalion bulldozers were called in to the rescue.
The provincial phase of the disaster plan has been initiated. As a precaution, a few houses on the outskirts of the military area were evacuated.
Belgian Defence apologises to the population for the inconvenience caused by this fire and thanks the firefighters, Belgian and Dutch, the military and all the people who helped in the fight against this fire.
This post was published on 24 April 2021 16:55
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