The forest fires that have raged in Europe in recent weeks, have already ravaged a larger area than in all of 2021, according to the specialised European Observatory.
Fires have affected a total of 517,881 hectares in the 27 EU countries since the beginning of the year, according to figures until July 16. That is slightly more than 5,000 square kilometers – about the same as the provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant.
Despite numerous fires in Italy and Greece, a total of 470,881 ha.(4,700 km2) went up in flames in all of 2021, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
Should the current trends continue, 2022 will match or even surpass 2017, the worst year on record in the EU since the creation of EFFIS in 2000, when 988,088 ha. – nearly 10,000 km2, the size of Lebanon – went up in smoke.
“The situation is even worse than expected, even though we expected temperature anomalies thanks to the long-term weather forecasts,” said EFFIS coordinator Jesus San Miguel. He stressed that the heat wave was a determining factor and clearly had to do with global warming.
In France, almost 40,000 ha. have gone up in flames since the beginning of the year, compared to just over 30,000 ha. in all of 2021.
In Spain, the damage this year was to more than 190,000 ha., as against just under 85,000 in 2021, while in Portugal, over 46,000 ha went up in flames, up from just over 25,000 in 2021.
“We knew it was going to be a tough summer and we expect it to stay that way; we’re not even halfway through the fire season,” said San Miguel. “The season used to be concentrated from July to September; now we have longer seasons and very intense fires.”
