BAELEN, Belgium — Firefighters battled a massive wildfire that scorched a nature reserve in eastern Belgium and another on a Greek island near Athens where two people were killed Sunday as hot and dry conditions fueled fires across parts of Europe.

A blaze in eastern Belgium burned about 12 square miles in the High Fens, a large nature reserve, in one of the country’s worst wildfires in recent history.

About 600 residents in the nearby municipalities of Waimes and Buetgenbach near the German border, were told to evacuate Saturday as winds shifted and smoke spread through the area. Authorities also advised tourists to leave, while a nearby gymnasium was opened to receive evacuees.

Liege provincial Gov. Hervé Jamar said in a statement Sunday that more than 250 emergency personnel had been deployed, including over 100 Belgian and German firefighters, as well as police and military officers and civil protection staff. Firefighting helicopters operated by Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands also helped.

In Greece, two people were killed in a wildfire Sunday on the island of Salamina, west of Athens, Greek firefighters said.

The bodies were recovered in the village of Peristeria, where strong winds fueled the rapidly spreading blaze. A second blaze was reported in the Selini area. Firefighting and coast guard vessels evacuated about 500 beachgoers in the area.

About 260 firefighters were responding to the blazes, including 15 ground teams, 10 aircraft and eight helicopters.

The island had been at high wildfire risk Sunday with near gale-force winds. “These conditions enabled the fire to quickly reach dangerous proportions and spread rapidly ... toward nearby residential areas,” Fire Brig. Gen. Vasileios Vathrakogiannis said.

Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, said conditions are much worse this time. “We’re dealing with something much deeper because we have very dry soil,” he said.

The fire comes after weeks of unusually hot and dry weather. The High Fens’ mix of heathland and peat bogs has complicated efforts to contain the flames.

In France, firefighters battling a wildfire in a pine forest in the southwestern Landes region faced no major flare-ups overnight, Landes Prefect Gilles Clavreul said. Authorities estimated the total area burned at 6.6 square miles, while about 650 people had been evacuated from their homes.

In the United Kingdom, emergency crews were fighting 14 wildfires in South Wales with the support of military personnel.

Corbet and Nassiri write for the Associated Press and reported from Paris and Baelen, respectively. AP writers Sylvia Hui in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy, contributed to this report.