The hellish infernos that have torn through parts of France and Spain have caused deaths, the evacuation of ۳۳۰,۰۰۰ people from their homes, widespread destruction and clouds of toxic smoke. Records have already been smashed and with the fourth heatwave of the European summer setting in, there are few signs of the waves of wildfires ending.
France has already surpassed the worst previous year for the size of the area burned, with August, usually the hottest month, yet to come.
In Spain, the cumulative number of fires in ۲۰۲۶ has also set a new record for this time of year, and the cumulative burnt area remains just below the level reached by late July during a devastating fire season in ۲۰۲۲.
Why have the wildfires been so bad?
The extreme severity of the blazes is the result of “whiplash” wet-then-dry weather this year, supercharged by the climate crisis. Last winter and much of spring in western Europe was very wet, encouraging heavy growth of trees, shrubs and other vegetation.
However, by May the first of a series of heatwaves had hit Europe. All heatwaves are made more intense and more likely by the global heating caused by fossil fuel burning. The heatwave at the end of June was the most severe ever recorded in Europe and would have been impossible without the added heat from more than a century of carbon pollution.
Western Europe’s hottest June
The high temperatures meant the hot atmosphere strongly evaporated water from rivers and lakes and sucked plants and soil dry, with the conditions made ۸۰ times more likely by global heating. As a result of the drought conditions, vegetation became tinder and the risk of wildfires soared, leading to a series of wildfires scientists have described as “firewaves”.
The situation has been worsened by the unprecedented development of enormous “fire clouds” – pyrocumulonimbus – in France. These form from the heat from huge fires and become a self-feeding firestorm, spitting lightning bolts and sparking further blazes.
The severity of the fires has been extremely challenging for the fire-fighting authorities, who in the past would have expected to extinguish the fires. One firefighter, Javier García, told Associated Press he had never faced anything like it in his two decades in the job.
“The evolution is alarming,” he said, adding that they were now prioritising evacuations and property protection because fast-moving walls of flames were too ferocious.
What have been the consequences?
Many thousands of residents and holidaymakers have had to evacuate, often prompted by urgent alerts sent to their phones. Emergency shelters have been set up, including ۷۸ by the Red Cross in Spain. “This is a pattern we are seeing more and more across Europe: heatwaves, drought and wildfires feeding into one another, and communities bearing the consequences,” said Maria Alcazar Castilla, from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The longer-term damage to homes and livelihoods is yet to be reckoned with, but will be large. The wildfires around Bordeaux have claimed some of the region’s famous vineyards, while the tourism and manufacturing industries around Valencia have been hard hit.
A further longer-term impact will be the damage to health caused by the toxic smoke from the fires. About ۱.۵ million people a year are estimated to have their lives shortened by wildfire smoke.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has described the wildfire emergency as the “toughest” situation the country had dealt with since the second world war. In Spain, Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, said his country was suffering the effects of the climate crisis.
Europe is the fastest-warming of all continents, owing to an increase in heat dome conditions and the proximity of the Arctic, where reflective ice is melting rapidly.
Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief, said: “The science on the cause is unequivocal: global heating, driven by humanity burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, is making protracted heatwaves, severe floods and violent mega-storms more frequent, more intense and more costly.
“The awful costs of this climate crisis – both human and economic – are now reaching national emergency levels. What needs to be done is equally clear: leave coal, oil and gas behind faster, scale up renewables and protect people where the impacts are already hitting hardest.”
The EU has watered down a series of green measures in the past year in the face of political opposition and corporate lobbying. Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for crisis preparedness, told the Financial Times: “The commission can only be as ambitious as the member states want it to be. When member states drag their feet [on the climate crisis] … there is a real danger and an incalculable price.”
