Many firefighters continue to burn wildfires to the south of Europe amid records of breaking summer heatwaves.
In some places, the thesis’s fire has been extended from the wet spring months, which has helped in the vegetation enabled capable of catching easily during dry summer.
Already, a region equal to 1.5 times the size of Luxembourg – approximately 438.568 hectares – has been burnt throughout Europe in 2025. The figure is about three times the damaged fire -shaped size to the same point in 2024.
It comes when some parts of southern Europe suffer from many 40-degrees (104 fahrenheit) days, and long-lasting heatwaves.
The current heat has been designed as the worst for wildfire in two decades.
How is the fire burning? What is the situation now?
Julie Berkamanson, a climate scientist at the European Environment Agency, said, “We are seizing extreme temperatures in large parts of Europe, broken by 40 degrees in many places.”
“Southern France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, are all hit at high temperatures [and] Large -scale wildfires in Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, Türkiye, Albania. ,
In Spain, those fire has already burnt the size of London through an area.
Portugal is fighting his own fire, about four thousand firefighting is currently active on seven active sites. It has been forced to request help from the firefighting forces of the European Union.
A large number of firefighters have been collected in Greece, which is struggling with 20 blazes during this peak fire season.
This summer has caused deaths in Spain, Montenegro and Italy due to fire and heat related incidents.
It has been a serious fire season
The Europe uses data from its copricus satellite fleet to monitor fire activity, and collides data through European Forest Fire Information System (Effis).
In 2025, a sufficient amount of fire damage has already been done.
More than 250,000 hectares of land has been burnt in 2024 at the same time.
Last year, there are more than 1,600 fire across Europe compared to only 1,100.
And new areas are experienced more than normal fire activity.
For example, Spain has doubled its territory compared to an average of 2006–2024. This year, Romania has lost four times more land.
Cyprus has been badly affected. This can usually expect to see about 0.32% of its landmas burnt every year. Already in 2025 it is 2.5% – about eight times more.
So but this is the number of fire which is related. France has set fire three times as average between the worst wildfire for its southern regions in decades as an average.
more to come …
The result of severe wildfire is beyond the loss of land or human fatal. Damage to the ecosystem through vegetation loss, health effects through smoke breathing, and economic fall are the results of all broad fire events.
“It’s about € 2.5 billion [$2.9 billion] Every year lost damage in the European Union, “Berkkmans told DW.” From 2008 to 2023, average 45,000 people were displaced due to wildfires. ,
The first climate risk assessment of the European Environment Agency published in 2024, found that immediate action requires immediate action to address the fire of a significant risk, which will be for population and intelligence and biodiversity in southern Europe.
“Wildfier is required to have a necessary risk,” Berkkmans said. “This is a big risk that needs more action in the rest of Europe now.”
As the European decline occurs, the number of fire and the damage caused by them should slow down. However, the forecast of the long danger season, and the behavior of the topics of the fire, is becoming more difficult.
Climate change will not only create warm and drying conditions in Southern Europe, it wants to start changing other dynamic factors.
For example, rapid and more unstable wind system, to challenge for fire management personnel to guess how the blaze will be. This puts the lives of emergency workers and citizens at greater risk.
“A fire is so fierce, so fast, and so impenetrable, it seems alive, capable of re -shaping the Vather around it and jumps into a heartbeat in a heartbeat,” Antonio Lopez said, an expert of wildfires at Sevilla University, Spain.
Edited by: Carla Blekar
