2025 EU wildfire season sets record with over one million hectares burned

by Featured NewsResearchWildland Fire

Wildfire season sets EU record for burnt area

The European Union recorded its most destructive wildfire season in 2025, with over one million hectares burned across Member States and activity peaking during summer heatwaves.

The Joint Research Centre reported that satellite analysis from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) showed 1,079,538 hectares burned within the EU.

The total rises to 2,242,195 hectares when including areas across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa monitored by EFFIS.

The fire season began early, with more than 100,000 hectares burned by the end of March.

Fire activity increased from June and reached its highest levels in August as large fires spread across Mediterranean countries.

A heatwave in early August triggered 22 very large fires in Portugal and Spain, burning 460,585 hectares which accounted for 43% of the EU total.

In total, 7,783 fires were recorded across 25 of the 27 EU Member States, with Luxembourg and Malta the only countries unaffected.

Germany, Spain, Cyprus and Slovakia each recorded their highest burnt area since EFFIS records began in 2006.

Burnt area across the EU was nearly double the average recorded between 2006 and 2024.

Around 39% of the total burnt area occurred within Natura 2000 protected sites, equating to 424,023 hectares.

Monitoring and response measures for wildfire risk

The Joint Research Centre outlined that EFFIS continues to support authorities with monitoring and preparedness through satellite-based wildfire data.

The 2025 season reflects a pattern of earlier fire starts, more frequent heatwaves and fires occurring at higher latitudes than previously observed.

Outside the EU, Ukraine accounted for almost 30% of the total burnt area and 39% of mapped fires within the wider monitored region.

The European Commission adopted a new integrated approach to wildfire risk management on 25 March 2026, covering prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.

The framework includes plans to improve early warning systems and fire mapping through expanded satellite data availability.

EFFIS forms part of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service and provides standardised wildfire data across Europe.

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) coordinates firefighting resources from Member States and participating countries.

Seasonal measures include prepositioning firefighters in high-risk areas and maintaining a shared aerial firefighting fleet under rescEU.

The Commission has allocated funding for 12 firefighting planes and five helicopters to expand the permanent rescEU fleet, with aircraft based across several European countries.

These measures sit alongside ongoing efforts to strengthen wildfire monitoring and response capacity across the region.

European Commission discusses future Wildfire Preparedness plans

by Breaking NewsIndustry SectorsWildland Fire

In the wake of forest fires in Southern and Central Europe, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, in close cooperation with the Czech Presidency of the Council, held an Informal Ministerial Meeting on Reinforcing Wildfire Preparedness and Response in Brussels on 5 September 2022.

Ministers, State Secretaries and Directors-General for Civil Protection of the EU Member States and Participating States to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) discussed rapid coordinated European action, within the framework of the UCPM, to better protect the Union and its citizens from fires in 2023 and beyond.

The participants gave their tributes to the work of the many firefighters who engaged in responding to fires across the Union and welcomed the European solidarity shown through the UCPM throughout the summer and the effective coordination ensured by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC).

The meeting confirmed the shared understanding of all EU Member States and Participating States that climate change is rapidly altering the wildfire risk in Europe. The scientific projections for the next years and the operational experience of the EU’s fire services depict a dire situation for the future of European forests and the livelihoods of citizens across the EU.

The occurrence of large forest fires in Central and Northern Europe, witnessed this year in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany and complementing a trend of previous years that saw fire emergencies also in Austria and Sweden, has raised particular concern among the leaders. T

he absence of sufficient firefighting planes and helicopters in these countries puts additional strain on the already established seasonal European safety net of firefighting aircraft, co-financed by the European Commission and meant to temporarily bridge gaps until the permanent new European fleet of firefighting aircraft (called rescEU and composed of 14 medium and light amphibious planes and 9 medium helicopters to complement national fleets) will have been produced between 2026 and 2030.

It was agreed that the intensification of wildfires in Southern Europe exhausts all existing firefighting capacities at national and European level, making European solidarity in a situation of simultaneous large-scale fires in several countries a particular challenge.

The pre-positioning of firefighters, for the first time operationalised this summer in a European pilot project in Greece, was identified as a good practice to not only share aerial capacities in the EU, but to also to exchange expertise, share knowledge and pre-plan the mobilisation of ground teams from countries less affected by fires to those in need of assistance.

The EU Member States and the Commission reached broad consensus on four concrete actions points:

  1. Accelerate the establishment of the new permanent rescEU fleet of aerial firefighting capacities by exploring an advanced procurement of helicopters;
  2. Expand the existing seasonal European safety net of firefighting airplanes by financing the inclusion of additional helicopters and light aircraft in particular in Central and Northern Europe, as of summer 2023;
  3. Reinforce the seasonal pre-positioning of ground teams to wildfires hot spots;
  4. Operationalise a plan of action for fire prevention and preparedness.

These actions are subject to additional EU budgetary resources being made available. The European Commission invited countries interested in hosting additional rescEU capacities or prepositioning ground teams to inform the European Commission of their intentions before the end of September 2022.