Walter Finch
SPAIN’S wildfires have already destroyed nearly 4,000 square kilometres of land this year – an unprecedented figure six times higher than the national average.
According to EU Copernicus data, Spain has suffered one of the worst wildfire seasons in Europe, with 2025 seeing 6.5 times more land burned than the historical average.
Across the EU as a whole, the destruction has reached 16,000 square kilometres – more than four times the normal figure for this point in the year and an area larger than Asturias.
READ MORE: 21 major wildfires still active in Spain as Pedro Sanchez promises ‘disaster area’ status
Spain’s losses alone now stand at almost 400,000 hectares, making it one of the hardest hit countries in the bloc.
Spain’s largest blaze is currently in Ourense, Galicia, where merged fires have already destroyed more than 620 square kilometres and forced evacuations.
Castile and Leon is also badly hit, with 26 active wildfires and over 31,000 people displaced as transport links are cut.
READ MORE: ‘Heartless criminal’ started wild fire in Spain to further ‘business interests’
Further south, Extremadura continues to battle major outbreaks including the Jarilla fire in Caceres, which has already consumed 120 square kilometres.
The devastation is so severe that reinforcements from France and Germany have been sent to assist. A German convoy of 17 fire trucks and a French deployment of 12 vehicles and 30 firefighters have joined operations in Leon and Zamora.
The Spanish army’s emergency unit, the UME, has also been deployed, using bulldozers to carve firebreaks in burning forests.
Despite the recent easing of the heatwave, large swathes of western and southern Spain remain at ‘very high’ or ‘extreme’ risk of new outbreaks, according to AEMET, the national weather agency.
Experts warn that the scale of this year’s fires is without precedent since records began.
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
