Fires In Europe In 2022 Destroyed A Record 660 Thousand Hectares Of Forests, The Most In The Last 16 Years

In Europe, almost 660,000 hectares of forests have been destroyed by forest fires so far this year. This follows from data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). Devastating forest fires plagued the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Austria, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Italy this year.

Sad historical record

Fires in Europe have destroyed 659,541 hectares of forests this year, the highest figure for this time of year since 2006, when these measurements began. In terms of forest fires in 2022, Spain was the most affected so far, where the flames destroyed 244,924 hectares of forest. Right behind Spain are Romania (150,528 hectares) and Portugal (77,292 hectares).

The situation is worrying. Drought and extremely high temperatures are dangerous for much of Western Europe. In addition, since 2020, the occurrence of forest fires has increased in Central and Northern Europe, while countries that normally do not experience a high number of forest fires on their territory also fought the flames.