Large natural fire near Ede, Air Force uses helicopter

The fire brigade in the Ede area was massively pulled out on Thursday afternoon for a large natural fire in the Veluwe, between Ede and Otterlo. A ‘small number’ houses has been evacuated, as far as is known, there were no injuries.

The fire was not yet under control just after six hours, according to a spokesperson for the Security Region. Nor could the fire brigade say how large the area is on fire. The municipality announced around 7 pm that the fire was caused by an exercise of Defense.

Around the end of the afternoon, 330 firefighters were on the move to extinguish the fire. The Air Force also used a helicopter.

NL-Alert

The government sent an NL-Alert around half past four, but because the telephone network was overloaded, it did not arrive at everyone. The municipality of Ede also has a live blog equipped.

There the municipality calls on residents who suffer from the smoke to go inside and close windows and doors. Due to the changing wind direction, the direction of the smoke can quickly change, the municipality warns. The extinguishing is also made difficult due to the weather.

Due to climate change, natural fires worldwide are increasingly common and increasingly northern. In the Netherlands, the risk of natural fires is now particularly high because it first rained a lot for two years, but very little rain has fallen this year. In March only about 80 natural fires raged, almost as much as in the whole of 2024.

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