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ildfires continued to burn across France, Spain and Greece on Thursday as scorching temperatures, strong winds and dry conditions fueled blazes that have killed firefighters, forced mass evacuations and destroyed thousands of hectares of land.

In southwestern France, authorities said a wildfire near Bordeaux was brought under control overnight after burning around 42,000 hectares of forest. Police arrested two people on suspicion of arson, though officials released no further details.

The fires have forced about 220,000 residents and tourists to evacuate, although around 60,000 have since returned as conditions improved. Businesses that had temporarily closed were gradually reopening.

Weather conditions around Bordeaux were expected to improve later Thursday, with forecasts of cooler temperatures, higher humidity and possible thunderstorms. However, authorities warned that the fire danger remained high.

In Greece, three firefighters were killed as crews battled separate wildfires driven by gale-force winds.

Deaths in Crete

Two firefighters died after becoming trapped between advancing fire fronts on the island of Crete, where hundreds of residents and tourists were evacuated by land and sea from communities threatened by fast-moving flames. A third firefighter was killed while responding to another wildfire in the Peloponnese.

Strong winds prevented firefighting aircraft from operating over parts of Crete, hampering efforts to contain the blaze.

Spain also remained on alert as firefighters battled at least 10 active wildfires across the country.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the situation as “extreme,” citing high temperatures, low humidity and powerful winds that have created dangerous fire conditions.

The largest fire continued to spread in the eastern province of Castellón, where more than 9,300 hectares have burned. Fire officials said crews worked overnight to secure the fire’s 82-kilometer perimeter in hopes of stabilizing it before temperatures rose again.

New wildfires also broke out in the northwestern provinces of Zamora and León, forcing more than 1,300 people to leave their homes, including residents near Arribes del Duero Natural Park.

A European Union wildfire response center

Sánchez said he had asked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to support establishing a European Union wildfire response center for the western Mediterranean on Spain’s Balearic Islands.

Europe has endured repeated heatwaves this summer, with temperatures remaining well above seasonal averages across much of the continent.

Scientists say prolonged drought, extreme heat and strong winds have increased the frequency and intensity of wildfires across southern Europe, where emergency services have faced near-continuous firefighting operations in recent weeks.

The current wildfire season has already burned more land across the European Union than at the same point last year, underscoring the growing challenge posed by increasingly severe summer fire seasons.

(Source: Reuters)

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orest fires are burning more trees and covering more territory than ever recorded, with new satellite data confirming a doubling of fire-related forest loss over the past two decades.

Researchers at the University of Maryland, using Landsat imagery from 2001 to 2024, found that more than 13.5 million hectares of forest were destroyed by stand-replacing fires last year — an area roughly the size of Greece. That surpassed the previous record, set just a year earlier, by 13%. Fires in 2024 were unique for their global reach, ravaging both boreal and tropical forests on an unprecedented scale.

South America saw extreme destruction, with Brazil and Bolivia among the worst affected. Together, South American fires accounted for about one-quarter of the planet’s total fire-related tree loss. Boreal regions such as Russia and Canada endured some of their most severe fire seasons since satellite records began.

The environmental, economic and human toll is staggering. Beyond destroying homes and infrastructure, wildfires pollute water supplies, cause billions of dollars in property damage, and produce smoke linked to more than 1.5 million deaths annually.

Climate feedback loop

Climate change is fueling the rise in fire intensity. Hotter, drier conditions make forests more flammable, while the fires themselves release enormous amounts of carbon, accelerating global warming in a vicious “fire-climate feedback loop.” This self-reinforcing cycle is particularly visible in boreal forests, which store up to 40% of the Earth’s land-based carbon, much of it locked in permafrost.

From 2001 to 2024, over 60% of fire-related forest loss occurred in boreal zones, with the burned area there increasing by roughly 160,000 hectares per year. Russia endured three of its worst fire seasons on record between 2020 and 2024, while Canada’s 2023 blazes destroyed nearly 7.8 million hectares of forest — six times its annual average.

Severe fires in boreal regions threaten to transform their ecology, replacing conifer species like black spruce with deciduous trees and in some cases preventing regrowth altogether. Scientists warn this could flip boreal forests from a carbon sink to a net carbon source.

Tropical forests under fire

In tropical regions — where wildfires were once rare — destruction is climbing sharply. Fire-related tree loss in the tropics has risen by about 47,000 hectares per year since 2001, peaking in 2024 with more than 4 million hectares lost, most of it in primary rainforests.

For the first time, fires overtook agriculture as the main driver of forest loss in parts of the Amazon and Congo Basin. The 2024 El Niño intensified the disaster by creating hotter and drier conditions across much of the tropics. Almost all tropical fires are human-ignited, often as part of land clearing for agriculture, but climate-driven drought allows them to spread uncontrollably.

Bolivia, Peru and Brazil all experienced their worst or second-worst fire seasons on record in 2024, with Bolivia’s forest losses more than doubling the previous high set in 2019.

Temperate regions not immune

Though temperate and subtropical forests historically burn less, some are now experiencing worsening fire activity. Temperate forests — in parts of the U.S., Europe, and East Asia — are losing about 23,000 additional hectares to fire each year. The Mediterranean basin has seen major increases linked to heatwaves and drought, with Spain recording over 70,000 hectares burned in 2022.

Urban expansion into forested areas is increasing fire danger in countries such as the United States. The spread of “wildland-urban interfaces” — where homes and vegetation intermingle — has contributed to costly and deadly fires, including California’s Mosquito Fire in 2022 and the catastrophic Los Angeles blazes of early 2025.