Status: 08/14/2022 10:26 am
Devastating forest fires are still raging in Europe, leaving charred landscapes in their wake. This year, 660,000 hectares of land have already burned – a new record. The fire season is far from over.
The various major fires in Europe have already burned around 660,000 hectares of land this year – the highest figure since records began in 2006.
This goes out data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).. According to them, this year not only the Mediterranean countries were affected as usual; other regions also suffered enormously. Slovenia experienced its worst forest fire in generations.
Only in the middle of the fire season
“2022 is a record year so far,” said EFFIS coordinator Jesus San-Miguel. “Drought and extremely high temperatures have hit all of Europe.” This greatly increases the risk of forest fires. “The situation is worrying – and we are only just getting into the middle of the fire season.”
Spain has been hit the hardest this year, with 225,000 hectares burned. Romania follows with 150,000 and Portugal with 77,000 hectares.