MONSCHAU, Germany (AFP) — German pensioner Petra Mertens did not hesitate when ordered to evacuate her home in the sleepy western border town of Monschau as an enormous fire advanced from neighbouring Belgium.

“We more or less went voluntarily,” the former care worker, 63, told AFP at a community centre kitted out with stretcher beds for a handful of evacuees, including herself and husband Ulrich.

The couple’s dogs, Cleo and Kruemel (Crumbs), have also come along.

“The air was terrible so we thought, ‘Let’s do it.’ With the smoke we thought, ‘There’s no way we can do that to the dogs,’ “ Metrtens said.

Her husband, a 68-year-old retired warehouse worker, was also shaken by the forced departure from his home.

“I’ve never seen one like it,” he said. “It was no small fire, that’s for sure.”

They were among around 30 residents who were forced to evacuate their homes in Monschau — an ancient town known for its half-timbered houses and cobbled streets — on Sunday as the Belgian blaze threatened to spill across the border.

Eastern Belgium has become Europe’s most urgent fire front, with a vast blaze tearing through the High Fens nature reserve for the past four days.

Belgian firefighters have been assisted by their German colleagues in a battle to contain the country’s worst wildfire in a century, although rain and favourable winds helped a little Monday.

“But it will not extinguish the fire,” warned Monschau fire chief Philipp Krueger, adding that strong south-westerly gusts forecast for Tuesday could fuel the blaze.

“This is a completely new situation; we have not had this scenario up to now,” he said. “We are currently preparing for it.”

A historically hot and dry summer has fuelled devastating wildfires all across Europe, leaving those in the north of the continent facing blazes on a scale previously unseen.

The sights and smells have etched themselves on Petra Mertens’s mind.

“Everything was foggy, you couldn’t open the window, and it stank,” she said, showing a picture on her phone of an orange glow partially obscured by thick smoke clouds that had turned the air black.

“I won’t forget this quickly,” she said.

“You see just how quickly you can lose a home. You see how quickly it can all happen.”