Zürcher Nachrichten - Record European fires burn over 500,000 hectares over summer

Multiple back-to-back heatwaves fuelled by climate change scorched Europe, causing more than 30,000 excess deaths, widespread drought and devastating wildfires that forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, particularly in Spain and France.

Temperature records across the continent were smashed, triggering dangerous blazes even in normally cool, wet areas such as Belgium and Scotland.

The total area affected by fire between June 18 and September 2 is well above the average for the previous 20 years, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

But it remains below the record set in 2025, when fires consumed more than 800,000 hectares between those dates.

- Exceptional scale -

Four of the EU's 15 largest fires of the last 10 years occurred this summer, according to EFFIS data.

Fires that broke out between July 16 and 22 consumed nearly 190,000 hectares of forest, the most for that week-long period since at least 2006, according to harmonised weekly data from EFFIS.

Three massive fires erupted in succession during this period: two in Spain and one in France.

One in the Spanish province of Avila, near Madrid, broke out on July 22 and went on to destroy more than 42,000 hectares.

Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and the Spanish government said it considered the blaze the worst in the country's modern history.

Another fire in the Andalusia region of southern Spain in July led to more than a dozen deaths.

A mega-fire that started in France's Gironde region, near Bordeaux, on the same day consumed 37,000 hectares of forest.

Another broke out in the Spanish province of Huelva in August, destroying nearly 44,000 hectares, making it the sixth largest ever in Europe.

- North not spared -

Before the end of July, France had already broken its record for the total area burned in a single year since records began.

Meanwhile, Spain has been hovering near its cumulative record for the same point in the year for weeks -- briefly surpassing it in mid-August before dropping back below.

Greece, Portugal and Italy are among the other southern EU nations that experienced an active fire season, a common summer phenomenon in the region.

Further north, Belgium faced its worst wildfire in over a century in August, a blaze that consumed thousands of hectares in the east of the country.

This single fire caused the country to break its record for the total area burned in a year since at least 2006.

EFFIS figures only include fires covering a minimum of 30 hectares.

The figures may differ from reported national data due to methodological differences, and the totals are subject to change as new satellite imagery becomes available.

L.Muratori--NZN