Forest fires already devastated more than 1,015 million hectares in the European Union, exceeding the 2017 historical record.
The European Union registered in 2025 a Forest fire record, They razed More than one million hectares According to data from European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). The devastated surface is equivalent to a third of Belgium and marks the highest figure since the records began in 2006.
The magnitude of the burned surface exceeds the mark of 2017when the fires razed 988,524 hectaresmore than half in Portugal, where 119 people died. This year, the impact is more widespread and keeps several countries in southern Europe, with Spain and Portugal as the most affected.
Spain
So far, four member states (Spain, Cyprus, Germany and Slovakia) have already exceeded their annual surface records burned in recent twenty years. Portugal, although it still maintains its historical record of 563,530 hectares in 2017, reached levels of destruction that had not been seen until August 21 so far in the century.
Spain and Portugal, in the epicenter
Spain concentrates the greatest damage: more than 400,000 hectaresalmost 40% of the entire surface burned in the European Union for 2025. The fires in the west of the country also left Four fatal victims. In Portugalwhere three people died, they burned almost 274,000 hectaresa devastation that adds to the climatic tension that affects the Iberian Peninsula.
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Romania It also records a hard blow, with 126,000 hectares calcinedwhile in France the fires consumed 35,600 hectaresparticularly in the Aude region, the scene of a great fire at the beginning of August.
These estimates of Effispart of the European Copernicus Observatory, only contemplate fires that exceed 30 hectares of burned surface. The analysis, performed by AFP, confirms that the 2025 season has already become the most destructive in the recent history of the European Union.
Source: Ambito
