Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In 2023, wildfires impacted 500,000 hectares in Europe, worsened by climate change, requiring new firefighting strategies and prevention.
According to the Forest Fires 2023 report, published by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, wildfires impacted over 500,000 hectares of natural lands, around half the size of the island of Cyprus.
How has climate change contributed to worsening wildfires in Europe?
The report states that in recent years, destructive wildfires have been common in the European Union and neighbouring countries, and 2023 was no exception. ‘Megafires’ and wildfires contested traditional firefighting means, including a fire near the city of Alexandroupolis in the Greek region of East Macedonia and Thrace. This was the biggest single wildfire recorded in the EU since the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) began tracking them in 2000.
The unusual wildfires sweeping Europe in the last four years indicate the undeniable effects of climate change on wildfires becoming more regular and intense. This was highlighted by the first-ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) and the Commission Communication on Managing Climate Risks in Europe published this year.
Climate change is not only expanding the size of the areas affected by wildfires, but also making individual fires more extreme, prolonging the fire season beyond the traditional summer period, and rendering fires to happen in areas that were not usually affected by them. The high frequency and power of wildfires during prolonged fire seasons pose a new challenge to firefighting assistance across Europe and globally, as aerial firefighting becomes more difficult and ground operations become more difficult or even unattainable.
How are wildfire seasons in 2024 compared to previous years?
The initial review of the 2024 wildfire season in the EU until mid-September indicates that the area scorched by fires in the EU was below the average of the last two decades. This is largely due to the intermittent rainfall that influenced much of the EU territory throughout spring and summer.
In September, numerous wildfires broke out simultaneously in Portugal. This carried the 2024 wildfire damage above the EU average of the last decades. However, overall, 2024 can be deemed a less severe wildfire season as it marks a downturn in impairment after three consecutive years of devastating fires.
What strategies are needed to cope with future wildfires?
To cope with wildfires in Europe and globally, it is essential to minimise the number of wildfire ignitions and control the landscape in vulnerable regions, containing the accumulation of high-risk fuel types and their spatial continuity. Nature-based preventive actions such as the promotion of tree species composition that is less fire-prone, allowing grazing by herbivores or prescribed burns, are useful in reducing wildfire risk, together with integrated landscape planning approaches.
