In Europe, 660,000 hectares of forest burned down due to abnormal heat and drought. This is the highest figure since 2006, when the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) recorded such data.
DW writes about it.
This year, fires raged not only in the Mediterranean countries, as it was mostly the case before. Great Britain also suffered from fires, and Slovenia recorded the largest forest fires in recent decades.
The most forests burned in Spain (225,000 ha), Romania (150,000 ha), and Portugal (77,000 ha). In recent days, fires have been recorded in France, Germany, and Greece.
In EFFIS, such a situation is considered threatening since it is the middle of the fire season.
- In mid-July, record heat was observed in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and France. More than a thousand people died because of it. Some regions of these countries were affected by forest fires. Since mid-July, the center of England suffered from heat and fires. At that time, a temperature maximum of +40 °C was recorded in the region.
- In Denmark, the heat in July broke the indicator of 1941, and in France, 60 temperature records were recorded only on July 19.
- Abnormal heat is observed in Europe to this day. Swiss authorities had to involve army aviation to deliver water to alpine meadows, where animals suffer from thirst due to high temperatures.
- On August 12, a drought was declared in England.