The area of Europe affected by wildfires could triple as a result of climate change, new research suggests. Back-to-back heatwaves and an early drought have created tinderbox conditions in western Europe since early July, leading to severe wildfires across France, Greece, Spain and Belgium in particular. More than 20 people have been killed, including 14 in the Almeria wildfire […]
Wildfires occur across Europe each summer, but the fires that swept through Spain and France in July 2026 ranked among the most destructive either country had experienced in decades. Some of the worst outbreaks developed in southwestern France’s Gironde Department and in Spain’s Ávila and Madrid provinces during the middle of the month. The fires […]
Fire tornadoes can rapidly change fire behaviour and make firefighting more dangerous. Europe’s record-breaking hot and dry summer is fuelling major wildfires, with France and Greece among the countries battling large blazes. Scientists say some of these fires are producing an unusual and dangerous phenomenon known as a fire whirl, or fire tornado, in which […]
A major new study warns that Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece are experiencing more ‘fire-promoting’ weather. Scientists have sounded the alarm over “major intensification” of fire-promoting weather in southern Europe, as large swathes of the continent continue to burn. Uncontained blazes have swept across Spain and France in recent weeks, scorching more than 120,000 hectares […]
The wildfires blazing across Europe have been fuelled by extreme weather that has been made up to 20 times more likely than it would be without human-induced climate change, according to an analysis by World Weather Attribution. Back-to-back heatwaves and an early drought have created tinderbox conditions in western Europe since early July, with severe wildfires […]
Wildfires sweeping through the vast boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia could be having a larger impact on the climate than scientists once believed. A new study led by researchers at UC Berkeley suggests these northern fires may release far more carbon into the atmosphere than current estimates indicate. The reason is that […]
Heatwaves, drought, wildfire risk and El Niño are compounding to create a dangerous cocktail of climate change. Heatwaves that lead to sudden and damaging drought are spreading across the globe at an accelerating rate, highlighting how climate change-fuelled extremes can build dangerously off each other, a new study found. Researchers from South Korea and Australia […]
The risk of synchronous wildfires is rising – and help won’t be as likely to come from neighbouring countries busy with their own flames. The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry and windy – ideal to spark extreme wildfires – has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing […]
Residents who return to their homes following wildfires may be unknowingly exposing themselves to harmful chemicals. The dangers of wildfires do not end when the flames are extinguished, and the long-term threat may be putting thousands at risk. Last year saw deadly blazes tear through Europe, burning more than a million hectares of land. This is four […]
Fires in the Amazon Rainforest have surged to record-breaking levels, highlighting the region’s ‘growing ecological fragility’. The Amazon rainforest has undergone its “most devastating” forest fire season in over two decades, despite a slowing trend in deforestation. A new study from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, published in Biogeosciences, found blazes impacted 3.3 million […]
