According to the latest data from the European satellite service Copernicus, more than 810 large forest fires, i.e. fires that caused destruction in an area of at least 300 hectares, have been recorded in the European Union this year.
The whole of Europe is facing a particularly difficult fire seasonas the increased temperatures and successive heat waveswhich reduce to dangerous levels the moisture in the vegetation, create conditions that favor the occurrence and spread of fires.
According to the latest data from the European satellite service Copernicus, more than 810 large forest fires, i.e. fires that caused destruction in an area of at least 300 hectares, have been recorded this year in the European Union.
This it is also reflected in the “live” maps of Copernicuswhere even if one chooses to see the outbreaks of just the last seven days one will still be able to distinguish one an impressively large number of fires from the Balkans and Italy to the Iberian Peninsula and areas of northern Europe.
Equally worrying for Europe are the official projections of burnt areas in the EU, as before we even reach in the last ten days of July and in August it is estimated that the burned areas exceed the average of the previous 15 years by approximately 90,000 hectares.
In another indication of the risk that all the countries of the Union have to manage, in France and Spain there have already been more large fires this year than the average of the previous fifteen years.
Specifically, in France between 2006 and 2022 averaged were recorded 72.3 major fires per yearwhile 207 have already broken out this year. In Spain The Average for the previous 15 years it was 192.8 large fire fronts Nevertheless this year the fire department has already been called to extinguish 327.
In Greece, on the contrary, 10 large fires have been identified to datethe moment that last year there were 66 and the year before 85although on a daily basis the Fire Department responds to dozens of incidents. On Tuesday alone, 47 forest fires broke out in our countryas the representative of the House informed in the evening, which means that fire brigades neutralize the vast majority of outbreaks before they become large.
The increase in large fires and the challenges this poses for any organized state may be the foretaste of the new realityas the United Nations Environment Program estimates that forest fires will increase by 30% globally by 2030. This is true to an even greater extent in the Mediterranean regionwhere warming is progressing 20% faster than the global average, according to the UN.
Source :Skai
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