In Spain<\/a>, the cumulative number of fires in 2026 has also set a new record for this time of year, and the cumulative burnt area remains just below the level reached by late July during a devastating fire season in 2022.<\/p>\n Chart showing the cumulative area burned by fires in Spain<\/a>Why have the wildfires been so bad?<\/p>\n The extreme severity of the blazes is the result of \u201cwhiplash<\/a>\u201d wet-then-dry weather this year, supercharged by the climate crisis. Last winter and much of spring in western Europe was very wet, encouraging heavy growth of trees, shrubs and other vegetation.<\/p>\n Chart showing how in February 2026 Spain had 241% of the normal average rainfall, while in April 2026 it had 58%<\/a><\/p>\n However, by May the first of a series of heatwaves had hit Europe. All heatwaves are made more intense and more likely by the global heating caused by fossil fuel burning. The heatwave at the end of June was the most severe ever recorded in Europe<\/a> and would have been impossible without the added heat from more than a century of carbon pollution.<\/p>\n Western Europe\u2019s hottest JuneChart showing how in June 2026 Western Europe had an average surface air temperature anomaly of 3.06C<\/a><\/p>\n The high temperatures meant the hot atmosphere strongly evaporated water from rivers and lakes and sucked plants and soil dry, with the conditions made 80 times more likely by global heating<\/a>. As a result of the drought conditions, vegetation became tinder and the risk of wildfires soared, leading to a series of wildfires scientists have described as \u201cfirewaves\u201d.<\/p>\n Map showing drought conditions in Europe<\/a><\/p>\n The situation has been worsened by the unprecedented development of enormous \u201cfire clouds\u201d \u2013 pyrocumulonimbus<\/a> \u2013 in France. These form from the heat from huge fires and become a self-feeding firestorm<\/a>, spitting lightning bolts and sparking further blazes.<\/p>\n A pyrocumulonimbus, or \u2018fire cloud\u2019, in the Fontainebleau forest region, about 37 miles south of Paris, France. Photograph: Emma Da Silva\/APFirefighters use controlled burning to halt a wildfire near Cebreros, \u00c1vila province, Spain. Photograph: Manu Fern\u00e1ndez\/AP<\/p>\n The severity of the fires has been extremely challenging for the fire-fighting authorities, who in the past would have expected to extinguish the fires. One firefighter, Javier Garc\u00eda, told Associated Press he had never faced anything like it in his two decades in the job.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evolution is alarming,\u201d he said, adding that they were now prioritising evacuations and property protection because fast-moving walls of flames were too ferocious.<\/p>\n Many thousands of residents and holidaymakers have had to evacuate<\/a>, often prompted by urgent alerts sent to their phones. Emergency shelters have been set up, including 78 by the Red Cross in Spain. \u201cThis is a pattern we are seeing more and more across Europe: heatwaves, drought and wildfires feeding into one another, and communities bearing the consequences,\u201d said Maria Alcazar Castilla, from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.<\/p>\n Evacuees at the Bordeaux exhibition centre in France. Photograph: Albert Llop\/NurPhoto\/ShutterstockAn evacuated woman with her dog in the exhibition centre in Bordeaux. Photograph: Ed Jones\/AFP\/Getty ImagesA sports centre in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain, has become a shelter for evacuated residents. Photograph: V\u00edctor Lerena\/EPA<\/p>\n The longer-term damage to homes and livelihoods is yet to be reckoned with, but will be large. The wildfires around Bordeaux have claimed some of the region\u2019s famous vineyards, while the tourism and manufacturing industries around Valencia have been hard hit.<\/p>\n The winemakers Antoine Latipau and his wife, Yana-Cheyenne, have lost most of their farm to the fires in Tr\u00e9villach, in the French Catalan south. Photograph: Antoine\/Guardian CommunitySheep search for food on a scorched pasture near Piedralaves, 60 miles west of Madrid. Photograph: \u00d3scar del Pozo\/AFP\/Getty ImagesA burnt car in Gironde, France. Photograph: Yves Herman\/Reuters<\/p>\n A further longer-term impact will be the damage to health caused by the toxic smoke from the fires. About 1.5 million people a year<\/a> are estimated to have their lives shortened by wildfire smoke.<\/p>\n Residents try to shield themselves from the toxi smoke in Avila, Spain. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has described the wildfire emergency as the \u201ctoughest\u201d situation the country had dealt with since the second world war. In Spain, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, the prime minister, said his country was suffering the effects of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n A towering pyrocumulus in Castell\u00f3n province, Spain. Photograph: 2026 Planet Labs PBC\/Reuters Europe is the fastest-warming of all continents, owing to an increase in heat dome conditions and the proximity of the Arctic, where reflective ice is melting rapidly.<\/p>\n Chart showing that Europe has an average temperature anomaly relative to the baseline of 0.87C<\/a><\/p>\n Simon Stiell, the UN\u2019s climate chief, said: \u201cThe science on the cause is unequivocal: global heating, driven by humanity burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, is making protracted heatwaves, severe floods and violent mega-storms more frequent, more intense and more costly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe awful costs of this climate crisis \u2013 both human and economic \u2013 are now reaching national emergency levels. What needs to be done is equally clear: leave coal, oil and gas behind faster, scale up renewables and protect people where the impacts are already hitting hardest.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Firefighters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Firefighters_tackle_wildfire_in_central_Spain_--9f5eb0fc-f15b-4783-8704-91a79907804f-1.0.0000000.jpg\")
Firefighters tackle wildfire in central SpainWhat have been the consequences?<\/p>\n![\"Dozens](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dozens_of_emergency_vehicles_tackle_fire_in_Gironde__France--dd7fc0e6-baa5-4f9e-b034-eda558128900-1..jpeg\")
Dozens of emergency vehicles tackle fire in Gironde, France<\/p>\n