Police soon discovered that the fire was started by a man trying to tow away his broken-down car. A resident of Houthalen about 16 kilometres away, he called a friend to tow his car to a garage, but a fuel line broke, and the heat of the engine set the petrol alight. The two eventually abandoned the car about 20 metres from the main road. The prosecutor’s office is carrying out an enquiry because the land on which the burning car was located – a military firing range used by personnel at the nearby base at Kleine Brogel – is not open to traffic.

The area damaged is about one- sixth of the area of the range, and the damage to fauna is still being evaluated. A spokesman for nature conservancy organisation Natuurpunt said the range could recover rapidly if it were to rain regularly over the coming weeks. Nature reserves in Antwerp province and in Limburg have been on high alert since 2 May, so fire towers were already manned and fire stations ready to respond rapidly.

Meanwhile, in Kasterlee, Antwerp province, a loose firework set off in the Bobbejaanland amusement park was the cause of a fire that was rapidly brought under control by the fire service. Smokers across the region were advised not to throw away their cigarette ends carelessly during warm, dry weather, due to the risk of fires on roadside verges.