More than 2,242,000 hectares of land were affected by wildfires across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in 2025, according to an advance report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), providing an early assessment of one of the most extensive fire seasons recorded by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
The data shows that wildfire activity remained unevenly distributed across the region. Ukraine accounted for almost 30% of the total burnt area and 39% of all mapped fires, making it the most affected country within the area monitored by EFFIS.
Within the European Union alone, fires burned more than 1,079,000 hectares, the highest annual total recorded since EFFIS data collection began in 2006. This represents a sharp increase compared to around 400,000 hectares burned in 2024, confirming the scale of escalation within a single year. The scale of activity confirms that 2025 stands out as an extreme year in terms of area affected, with fire impacts extending well beyond EU borders into neighbouring regions. In total, 7,783 fires were mapped across 25 EU countries during the year.
The fire season also started unusually early, with more than 100,000 hectares already burned across the EU by the end of March, indicating elevated risk conditions well before the summer period.
Summer peak and major fire clusters
Southern Europe remained a central zone of fire activity. Portugal, Spain, southern France, Italy, Greece and Türkiye recorded high levels of burning, particularly during the summer period. Fire activity increased from June and peaked in August, when a heatwave contributed to a cluster of 22 large fires in Portugal and Spain that burned around 460,585 hectares, accounting for approximately 43% of the EU’s total burnt area. Large fires exceeding 5,000 hectares were concentrated mainly in the western Iberian Peninsula, while other Mediterranean regions also experienced significant events.
At the same time, smaller fires were observed across continental Europe and parts of northern regions, indicating a wider spatial distribution of fire occurrence. This pattern reflects an expansion of fire-prone conditions beyond traditionally affected areas.
Climate drivers and shifting fire patterns
The JRC analysis links the 2025 fire season to prolonged periods of heat and dry conditions. Elevated temperatures and reduced moisture levels increased vegetation dryness, creating favourable conditions for ignition and fire spread. According to EFFIS data, the season was characterised by an earlier start, periods of heatwaves and fire activity reaching higher latitudes than historically observed.
Across the full EFFIS coverage area, more than 1,092,000 hectares burned in non-EU European countries, while around 70,500 hectares were affected in the Middle East and North Africa. These figures illustrate the geographic breadth of the 2025 fire season and the role of eastern regions in driving overall totals.
The report indicates that wildfire behaviour continues to depend on the interaction between climatic conditions and available vegetation. Fire danger indices used within EFFIS combine meteorological variables such as temperature, precipitation and wind to assess risk levels and help explain observed fire patterns.
A significant share of the damage occurred within protected areas. Fires affected more than 424,000 hectares of land within Natura 2000 sites, representing around 39% of the total burnt area in the EU, highlighting the impact on ecosystems designated for biodiversity conservation.
Although the Mediterranean basin remains the main hotspot for large fires, the 2025 season confirms that fire risk is not confined to southern Europe. Episodes of fire activity further north and across a broader range of environments are increasingly observed in EFFIS datasets, reflecting changes in climate conditions over time.
The advance report provides a preliminary assessment and will be followed by a full annual report later in 2026, including validated national statistics, detailed country analyses and information on fire causes and impacts. Even at this stage, the data shows a clear pattern of high fire activity combined with strong regional variability.
The findings come as the European Commission outlines a new strategy to address wildfire risk, focusing on prevention, improved monitoring through EFFIS and Copernicus, and strengthening firefighting capacity across member states.
The 2025 season points to a continued shift in wildfire dynamics across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, with heat and drought remaining the primary drivers and with impacts increasingly distributed across a wider geographic area.
Report:
Sedano, F., Maianti, P., Boca, R., Suarez-Moreno, M., Broglia, M. et al., ‘Advance report on Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2025’, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg (2026). DOI: 10.2760/3859043 | JRC146199
Article Source:
Press Release/Material by Joint Research Centre (JRC) | EU
Featured image credit: European Union, Copernicus Emergency Management Service Data
