Record burns in Spain and Portugal

A record of one million hectares – equivalent to about half of the area of ​​Wales – has burned through the European Union so far this year, making it the worst season of forest fires since the records in 2006.

Spain and Portugal have been particularly affected, with around 1% of the entire burnt Iberian peninsula, according to EU scientists.

The worsening of the Mediterranean fire season was directly linked to climate change in a distinct study by the World Weather attribution Group to the Imperial College in London.

Experts warn that more frequent and more serious fires across Europe would continue in the future.

More than two -thirds of the area burned in the EU is in Spain and Portugal alone.

In Spain, more than 400,000 hectares have burned since the start of this year until August 26, according to the fire system on the European Forest of Copernicus (effis).

This record is more than six times the Spanish average for this period between 2006 and 2024.

Neighboring Portugal has also undergone a record area of ​​270,000 hectares so far – almost five times the average for the same period.

The combined area of ​​burns in the Iberian peninsula this year is 684,000 hectares – four times the London region, and most of them burned in just two weeks.

The fires were concentrated in wooded areas in northern Portugal and in the northwest regions of Spain in Galicia, Asturias and Castille and León.

Protected areas such as Picos de Europa National Park have been affected, as well as major roads on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage network which generally attracts more than 100,000 visitors during the summer months.

The events have triggered the greatest known deployment of the strength of fire fighting of the EU civil protection mechanism.

Fire smoke considerably decreased air quality in the region, the southern wind sending smoke in France and the United Kingdom.

Climate change makes the conditions leading to more likely forest fires, but in a vicious circle, fires also release more carbon dioxide gas warming the planet (CO2) in our atmosphere.

The CO2 published by fires in Spain this year has reached a record of 17.68 million tonnes, according to the EU. It is more than all the total CO2 annual emissions since 2003 forest fires in this country, when the data was recorded for the first time by satellites.

For comparison, it is more than the total annual CO2 issued by all Croatia in 2023.

The firefighters fought against the flames through Europe this summer.

The climate change caused by humans has rendered the conditions subject to fire in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus about 10 times more likely, according to a rapid attribution study of the World Weather attribution Group to the Imperial College of London.

He was responsible for a 22% increase in extreme weather conditions behind fires, WWA said.

It causes more extreme heat, which dries vegetation, increasing flammability, said Theodore Keeping, scientist for forest fires at the Center for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London.

The continuous burn of fossil fuels will lead to more of these extreme fires, the researchers warned.

“It was urgent 10 years ago to stop burning fossil fuels,” said Dr. Fredi Otto, Professor in Climate Sciences in Imperial and WWA leader, describing him as “deadly for people and ecosystems”.

“Today, with 1.3 ° C of warming (since pre -industrial times), we see new extremes in the behavior of forest fires that have pushed firefighters to their limit,” said Keeping.

Scientists began a rapid analysis of forest fires in Spain and Portugal and expect similar results related to climate change.

Throughout southern and east Europe, rural depopulation also contributes to intense forest fires, added MR.

In regions like Spain and Portugal, an increasing number of young people move in cities looking for a more profitable job. The agricultural land managed by once are abandoned and become invaded, eliminating the broken breaks and increasing the amount of flammable vegetation vulnerable to intense shadows.

Fires have always been an important element of Mediterranean ecosystems and a large part of the natural fauna has co-evolved to exist alongside fire.

In fact, species like the Iberian hare benefit from newly open habitat and native cork oaks can quickly colonize burnt land.

Management techniques such as the prescribed trigger for burns and vegetation has long changed annual fires.

And the regrowth of burnt vegetation has generally compensated for carbon emissions from forest fires as carbon is again stored in plants and soil.

However, modern forest fires are larger, more frequent and more serious. According to Dr. Thomas Smith, associate professor in climate geography.

“A climate of warming leads to more frequent and more important fires, which in turn leads to carbon emissions that remain in the atmosphere, which leads to a warmer climate,” he said.

Climbing the risk of a warmer and drier climate makes fire management more difficult and constitutes a threat to the long -term stability of ecosystems.

According to Professor Stefan Doerr, director of the Center for Wild, Research de Swansea, there are also risks of accelerated soil erosion and contamination of ash of ash in rivers and tanks.

Efforts to manage excess vegetation in areas at risk of fire, as well as progress in the prevention of ignit, fire detection and fire fighting could help reduce the number and gravity fires in the future.