An extreme heatwave alert has been issued across Europe, with temperatures expected to exceed 40 °C in parts of Germany and France. The forest fire season has started earlier than usual this year – according to the latest data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), approximately 250 000 hectares have been burnt in the EU between 1 January and 9 July 2022. This is approximately three times the average estimated amount for the same period from 2008 to 2020.

Looking at the EU as a whole, fire has currently destroyed around 40% of the forests burnt in the EU during the first six months of the year in France and Spain. At the beginning of July, the cumulative area of burnt forest in these two countries was already four times larger than the average for the same period from 2008 to 2020. If current trends are anything to go by, we can expect even more fires in the coming weeks, as hot weather and drought typically trigger a peak in fires in late July/early August.