Portugal Colonial - Record EU wildfires burnt more than 1 mn hectares in 2025: AFP analysis

Surpassing the annual record of 988,524 hectares burnt in 2017, the figure reached 1,015,731 hectares by midday Thursday, representing an area larger than Cyprus.

This calculation is based on a total compiled by AFP from estimates by country by EFFIS, at a time when Spain and Portugal are still battling wildfires.

Four countries in the European Union -- Spain, Cyprus, Germany, and Slovakia -- have already experienced their worst year in two decades of existing data.

Spain is struggling with numerous fires in the west of the country, which have claimed four lives. By far it is the most affected EU country by fires, with more than 400,000 hectares burnt, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the EU total.

Portugal, which holds the EU record of 563,530 hectares burnt in 2017, is the second-most affected EU country. It has never had an area of this size (nearly 274,000 hectares) burnt as of August 21.

Romania follows with 126,000 hectares while in France, 35,600 hectares of forest have been reduced to ashes, mostly in the Aude region, which was ravaged by a massive fire in early August.

These calculations by EFFIS, a component of the European climate monitor Copernicus, only take into account fires that have burnt areas of at least 30 hectares.

P.Serra--PC