Wildfire damage in EU quadruples to nearly 900,000 hectares from last year

BRUSSELS - Wildfires have scorched nearly 895,000 hectares across the European Union (EU) so far this year, more than four times the area recorded in the same period of 2024, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) said Tuesday.

The burnt area has more than doubled compared with last week's tally of 439,568 hectares, underscoring the rapid spread of wildfires in recent days.

According to the JRC's latest weekly update, this year's figure far exceeds the 19-year average of 244,000 hectares typically seen by mid-August.

A total of 1,736 major blazes, defined as fires larger than 30 hectares, have been detected in the EU so far, compared with 1,185 during the same period last year. The surge has pushed estimated carbon dioxide emissions to 31.9 million tonnes, almost three times higher than a year earlier.

Looking ahead, the fire danger forecast for Aug 19-25 suggests easing conditions in the southern part of Europe, including Spain, France, Italy, the Balkans, and Greece. However, risk levels are set to climb in northern and northwestern parts of the continent.

Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, northern Germany, Poland, Denmark, and parts of Sweden and Finland face "very high to very extreme" anomalies in fire danger. Elevated risks are also forecast along the Danube basin in Austria, Hungary, and Romania.

On average, over 60,000 forest fires break out in the EU each year, burning some 500,000 hectares, nearly twice the area of Luxembourg, and causing human casualties and economic losses of around 2 billion euros (about 2.33 billion US dollars), according to JRC data.