Fires break records in Europe, with the Iberian Peninsula as the main victim.

Irene Morante de la Hera

Environment and Science Editorial, August 30 (EFEverde).- So far this year, the burned area in the European Union (EU) has exceeded one million hectares, the worst figure on record, largely due to the intense fires in August on the Iberian Peninsula that left thousands dead, evacuated, and protected areas devastated.

With one month to go until the end of the fire season, the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) has recorded 1,016,425 hectares (ha) burned, surpassing the 993,558 ha recorded in 2017, the record since records began in 2006.

Spain and Portugal alone account for more than 60% of the land area devastated by fires across the 27 countries. In Spain, fires have devastated 377,234 hectares, 37% of the total, while in Portugal the figure rises to 260,358 hectares, 25%.

Heat wave and vegetation as fuel

The month began with an intense heat wave felt throughout southern Europe, but especially in the two Iberian countries. In Spain, it lasted 16 days and became the most powerful on record, with an anomaly of 4.6 degrees Celsius.

According to a report released Friday by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), this year's spring—"very wet" in much of the peninsula—favored extraordinary vegetation growth, which, after a dry and hot June and July, became fuel for the fires.

The flames not only devastated the area, they also triggered a surge in polluting gases. According to EFFIS, between January 1 and August 26, 38.37 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) were released as a result of the fires, more than triple the amount released during the same period in 2024 (11.46 million).

Exceptional emissions and deteriorated air

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) scientist Mark Parrington described the emissions from the Spanish and Portuguese fires in August as “exceptional,” warning that the large amounts of smoke and PM2.5 particles had caused a “severe deterioration in air quality” across the Iberian Peninsula and parts of France.

In Spain, regions such as Castile and León (north-central), Galicia (northwest), and Extremadura (west) have been the hardest hit by forest fires, which in recent weeks have seen more than twenty serious outbreaks active at the same time.

The fires have left at least eight people dead so far this year and, in August alone, forced the evacuation of more than 35,000 people, burned towns and protected natural areas, and cut off roads and railways.

The landscape of Las Médulas (León), home to the largest open-pit gold mine in the Roman Empire and listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, has been engulfed in flames that have destroyed some of its centuries-old chestnut trees.

Natural heritage under threat

Areas of the Picos de Europa National Park were also burned, and pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago along sections close to the fires were affected.

Portugal, although with fewer total hectares burned, is the EU country with the highest percentage of territory consumed by fires: 2.83%, concentrated mainly in the central and northern regions.

The wave of fires left four dead, forced evacuations, and affected natural areas. One fire occurred in the Douro International Natural Park in the north, and a blaze in the Arganil area (center) destroyed more than 64,400 hectares, making it one of the largest fires in its history.

Greece and the climate challenge

This August's powerful heat wave also fueled the spread of wildfires in countries such as Albania and Greece, where deaths and evacuations were also reported.

In Greece, with 46,783 hectares burned—a much smaller area than in other years when the figure exceeded 100,000 hectares—heat and winds led to the outbreak of 152 fires in 24 hours in the middle of the month.

The situation in the northern Peloponnese, with outbreaks out of control, forced the evacuation of some 7,500 people, and days earlier, a fire in southeast Athens left one person dead.

More fires in the future

The European Space Agency (ESA) recalled last Wednesday that the long-term challenge is that these phenomena are expected to become increasingly frequent and intense as the climate crisis worsens. EFE

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