Over the past 20 years, the area of land burned each year in Europe has increased. The worst wildfire on record occurred in 2025, burning more than 1 million hectares.
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According to the European Forest Fire Information System, the average for the 20 years to 2025 will be around 500,000 hectares per year.
CNN is monitoring Europe’s largest ongoing wildfire. The information on this page is updated regularly during the day.
Firefighters are battling wildfires near the cities of Bordeaux and Madrid. France says the wildfires are not over and could continue burning for months, while Spanish authorities say more than 100,000 square miles of land in Madrid has been affected as exhausted evacuees wait to return home.
Wildfires raging in France are so intense that they are causing a “cloud of fire” the likes of which the country has never seen before, authorities said. Temperatures are expected to rise above normal in wildfire-hit areas of France and Spain next week, with no sign of rain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said these wildfires were not “a series of isolated events” but “the most painful expression of the climate emergency”.
Europe is one of the fastest warming countries on earth The rapid warming of the climate and sudden changes from wet to dry conditions have led to more intense and destructive fire seasons in recent years, particularly in western and southern Europe. Fires break out across the continent.
