German Village of 1,800 Evacuated as Wildfire Rages Near Hürtgen Forest

All 1,800 residents of the village of Gey in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state have been evacuated after a wildfire in the nearby Hürtgen forest threatened to reach their homes.

Local authorities said nearly 300 hectares of forest were ablaze on Friday morning. The cause of the fire remains unknown, and officials have not ruled out further evacuations in the area.

Firefighting efforts have been complicated by the presence of unexploded ordnance from World War II in the forest, according to German news agency DPA.

A large-scale response has been mounted, with several helicopters, army tanks, and evacuation buses deployed to support firefighting and evacuation operations. Aerial footage showed helicopters dropping water over the flames, while ground crews worked to contain the spread.

One resident, Bernhard Karlsberg, described the early-morning evacuation as an eerie experience. "It does feel strange to be woken up at four in the morning and having to leave the house," he said. "That's really something you only know from big TV shows. It's a bit eerie. You don't really know what to leave behind and so on. But you can see, there's a fire. And the security forces want to have freedom of movement. I understand that too. And I assume they'll get it under control."

Authorities have not yet provided a timeline for when residents might be allowed to return home.