EU fact of the week
date: 01/11/2019
Forest fires hit more EU countries than ever in 2018
Wildfires destroyed nearly 178,000 hectares (ha) of forests and land in the EU in 2018 according to the Annual Report on Forest Fires in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, published by the European Commission. While this is less than one sixth of the area burnt in 2017, and less than the long-term average, more countries than ever before suffered from large fires. The highest numbers of fires of 30 ha or larger were mapped by the European Forest Fire Information System in Italy (147 fires, 14,649 ha burned), Spain (104 fires, 12,793 ha burned), Portugal (86 fires, 37,357 ha burned), the UK (79 fires, 18,032 ha burned) and Sweden (74 fires, 21,605 ha burned) during last year. Sweden experienced the worst fire season in reporting history. The total burnt area of over 21,605 ha mapped in Sweden was registered as the second highest in the EU, an unusual position in the ranking for a northern country. Although Portugal was again the country with the highest burnt area, its total was a small fraction of the area lost to fire in 2017 and one of the lowest totals of the last 10 years.