The scale of the 2025 wildfire season broke all damage records for the past 20 years. During this period, more than 1 million hectares of forest were destroyed by fire in European Union countries. When including other countries in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, which are also covered by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), the total reaches a staggering 2.24 million hectares of forest.
This is reported by the European Union’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Timeline of the ecological disaster
Last year, the fire season started unusually early. By the end of March 2025, fires had already burned more than 100,000 hectares of forest in the European Union.
In the summer, the intensity of the fires began to increase, reaching a peak in August. At that time, massive fires swept through several Mediterranean countries.
Source: European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Countries most affected
During the first three weeks of August, a prolonged heatwave persisted. As a result, fires broke out almost simultaneously in Spain and Portugal, where about 461,000 hectares of forests were destroyed by fire – accounting for 43% of the total area affected by wildfires in the European Union.
In 2025, Malta and Luxembourg were the only EU countries untouched by fire. However, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, and Cyprus set a dubious historical record.
In total, wildfires burned 1,079,538 hectares of land in the EU, which is comparable in size to Cyprus (and 20% more than the entire Chernivtsi region of Ukraine). This is the worst figure since 2006 and is twice as high as the average scale of wildfires recorded from 2006 to 2024.
Source: European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Protected Natura 2000 areas accounted for 39% of the burned area – over 424,000 hectares.
Wildfires outside the EU
According to EFFIS, the wildfire area outside the EU amounted to:
- 1,092,095 hectares in European countries;
- 70,562 hectares in the Middle East and North Africa.
Ukraine was the most affected by fire, experiencing 39% of all wildfires recorded on the satellite map. Fires accounted for 30% of all affected areas.
“The 2025 season clearly highlights a trend toward an earlier start, more frequent and intense heatwaves, and wildfires reaching higher latitudes than historically observed,” the JRC summarized.
EcoPolitic previously reported that, since the beginning of the year, almost 94,000 hectares of ecosystems in Ukraine have been affected by fire. Rescuers emphasize that burning deadwood is prohibited. Violators face fines and even criminal liability in case the fire reaches a significant scale.
