The number of major fires this year already exceeds the average of the last decade.

Madrid, Aug 8 (EFE).- The number of major fires—those burning more than 500 hectares—that have occurred in Spain this year now totals 14, exceeding the average for the last decade, according to data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO).

The department has updated the data on forest fires recorded from January 1st to last Sunday, August 3rd (thus not yet including those recorded this week). This also reveals that the area affected by fire (almost 40,000 hectares so far this year) is much lower than the average for the last ten years (62,235 hectares).

Fast, intense, and unpredictable: this is what sixth-generation fires like the one in Lleida are like.

The number of major fires this year - 14 - is already one of the highest recorded during this period, surpassed only by those that occurred in 2022 (41), in 2017 (16) and in 2023 (16 fires).

Fewer fires than average

Provisional data compiled by the Ministry with information provided by the autonomous communities shows that the number of incipient fires (those that do not burn a hectare) has been 3,274 this year, compared to the average of 3,852 over the last ten years; and the number of fires (those that burn more than a hectare) has been 1,461, a figure much lower than the average for the last decade (2,113).

The forested area burned since January 1st amounts to 9,371 hectares, compared to the average of 21,826 hectares in recent years; the area of scrubland and open woodland burned amounts to 18,265 hectares, a figure much lower than in recent years (33,927); and the area of pastureland and meadowland scorched has been 11,518 hectares, a figure almost double the average of the last ten years.

50% in inland areas

The updated information from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MITECO) shows that 39.96 percent of the fires occurred in northwestern regions (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the provinces of León and Zamora); 35.27 percent occurred in inland regions (including the Basque Country and the provinces of the other non-coastal autonomous communities, except León and Zamora); 24.44 percent occurred in Mediterranean communities (including their inland provinces); and 0.34 percent occurred in the Canary Islands.

Of the total forest area affected, 50.41 percent is located in inland communities; 20.30 percent in Mediterranean communities; and 29.06 percent in northwestern communities, according to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.