A firefighter works to extinguish a wildfire near Budel, on May 1, 2026 a day after it broke out at a military training ground where a military exercise was taking place. (Photo by ROB ENGELAAR / ANP / AFP)
Amsterdam: France said 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 to AFP 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.
