Forest fires have burned a record 700,000 hectares in the EU this year

Forest fires have burned a record 700,000 hectares in the EU so far this year – the biggest amount since records began.

That’s according to the European Commission.

“We are facing a difficult summer in Europe, with so far for this year more than 700,000 hectares burned, the highest value at this time of the year since 2006,” said Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

Figures from European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) show that Spain has been the most heavily impacted so far with more than 283,000 hectares burned. It is followed by Romania (150,735), Portugal (86,631), France (62,102), and Italy (42,835). 

The number of fires has also shot up in recent years with more than 2,300 fires recorded across the bloc by mid-August, well above the average over the 2006-2021 period of 1,349 fires. 

Climate change has made increased the likelihood and severity of wildfires across Europe. This year, many of the fires were fuelled by several heatwaves and facilitated by a drought the European Commission Joint Research Centre said could be the worst in 500 years.

According to the European Commission, over the past two months, 29 aircraft and eight helicopters have been deployed across the bloc through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which is a way for EU countries to share resources during emergency situations.

Faced with this new reality, the European Commission has committed to finance the purchase by member states of 12 new firefighting aircraft but the first ones are not expected to become operational before 2026 with all scheduled to be online by 2029.

The current EU reserve to combat forest fire is this year composed of 12 firefighting aircraft and one helicopter that are loaned by Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden.