\n Summer fires in southern Europe are nothing new, but they are happening earlier in the year and are of growing intensity, according to researchers.\n <\/p>\n
\n In much of France and Spain, an exceptionally wet winter left a lot of vegetation that quickly turned to tinder as three successive heatwaves sent temperatures into the high-thirties Celsius.\n <\/p>\n
\n That has led to a spike in the number of larger fires, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).\n <\/p>\n
\n To date this year, the countries of the European Union have seen 314 fires of over 30 hectares each, nearly double the 158 at the corresponding date last year, and the second highest figure since 2016. And as of July 8, they had consumed 160,000 hectares, compared to the average since 2006 of just under 100,000 hectares.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cVery extreme conditions dominate a large area of western and central Europe, with the heaviest concentration across France, Spain and northern Portugal, the Alpine arc extending into northern Italy, the south of the UK and southeast Ireland,\u201d according to EFFIS in a bulletin this week.\n <\/p>\n
\n Besides the immediate casualties, fires contribute to the amount of carbon dioxide and toxic smoke in the atmosphere, which can have its own deadly consequences. .\n <\/p>\n
\n Fires in August last year in Spain and Portugal led to more than 2,000 premature deaths from smoke exposure as well as unprecedented spread of fires at night, according to new research<\/a> by Spanish and US scientists.\n <\/p>\n \n The total energy created by those \u201cwas similar to the annual energy production of a 1,000 MW nuclear reactor,\u201d the researchers found. The pattern of \u201cbig fires getting bigger\u201d is an indicator that fire intensity is increasing, they noted \u2013 with rural depopulation also a factor as more land goes untended.\n <\/p>\n \n This may have been a factor in the Almeria fire – some victims had tried to escape by car along a track only to be surrounded by flames, according to Spanish officials.\n <\/p>\n \n Besides the fire risk, the heat domes that trap high temperatures across Europe are having a cascade of other consequences.\n <\/p>\n \n In France, more than 2,000 deaths during the last week of June were attributed to the heat. France saw its hottest day ever on June 24. Deaths rose 29% in the last week of June compared to the week before, according to French health minister St\u00e9phanie Rist, who noted a \u201cclear increase\u201d in deaths among those over 45.\n <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ap26192378279922.jpg\")
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