Satellite mapping records 11.05 million hectares of Europe burned since 2006, an area larger than Portugal itself. Indexed against each country's size, the burden is starkly uneven: two countries have lost the equivalent of nearly a quarter of their entire land area, while France, the fastest-rising fire country in Western Europe, has already passed its worst full year on record with the peak of the 2026 season still ahead.
By Daniel Grainger · Ranking Atlas · July 2026 · 12 min read
* 2026 season to date (30 July). Source: EFFIS / Copernicus.
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<p style="font-size:12px;margin-top:4px">Source: <a href="https://ranking-atlas.com/resources/european-wildfire-index">The European Wildfire Index | Ranking Atlas</a></p>The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), the European Commission's satellite fire-mapping programme, has recorded every wildfire of approximately 30 hectares or larger across Europe since 2006. This study compiles that record into a single country-level index for 36 monitored countries: total area burned from 2006 to 2025, burn intensity normalised by national land area, decade-over-decade change, and a live layer covering the 2026 season to date.
The figures were retrieved directly from EFFIS on 30 July 2026 and are stated as satellite-mapped totals throughout. To our knowledge, this is the first published index to rank every EFFIS-monitored country on normalised, like-for-like mapped data across the full two-decade record.
“We deliberately didn't model causes. The record speaks plainly enough on its own. France passing its worst full year on record in July, and the steepest twenty-year rises appearing in countries with no tradition of fire seasons, are facts of the mapping data. Why it's happening is a question for climate scientists; where it's happening is now documented.”
Daniel Grainger, founder, Ranking Atlas
* 2026 season to date (30 July). Source: EFFIS / Copernicus.
By 30 July 2026, EFFIS had mapped 91,024 hectares of burned land in France. The previous full-year record, set in the Gironde fires of 2022, was 66,337 hectares. The 2026 season passed it with five months of the year remaining and before August, which has historically produced Europe's largest fires.
France, EFFIS-mapped: 2026 to date: 91,024 ha · Previous record (2022): 66,337 ha · Twenty-year annual average: 14,747 ha · Season so far vs average: 6.2×
The United Kingdom is also running well above trend at 21,871 hectares to date, 2.5 times its twenty-year average, following its worst mapped year in 2025 (47,879 hectares). Italy stands at 69,336 hectares, 1.2 times its average. Spain's 206,768 hectares to date is 2.18 times its average and follows the country's worst mapped year in 2025. Germany is at 2,170 hectares to date, 2.38 times its twenty-year average, after 2025 became its worst mapped year (5,475 hectares).
Note: EFFIS satellite-mapped totals differ from figures reported by national agencies, which use different measurement methods and thresholds. National statements have placed France's 2026 total higher; this study uses EFFIS mapping consistently across all countries and years.
As of 30 July, the 2026 season has mapped 273,314 hectares in Ukraine, 206,768 in Spain, 91,024 in France, 69,336 in Italy and 37,422 in Portugal. Measured against each country's own twenty-year average, France (6.2×), the United Kingdom (2.5×) and Spain (2.18×) are running furthest above trend among major countries. This table is refreshed weekly against the live EFFIS record; figures are as retrieved on 30 July 2026.
| Country | 2026 YTD ha | 20-yr avg | × avg | Worst yr | Worst ha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ukraine* | 273,314 | - | - | - | - |
| Spain | 206,768 | 95,065 | 2.18× | 2025 | 393,079 |
| France | 91,024 | 14,747 | 6.17× | 2022 | 66,337 |
| Italy | 69,336 | 57,227 | 1.21× | 2007 | 153,481 |
| Portugal | 37,422 | 105,477 | 0.35× | 2017 | 563,530 |
| United Kingdom | 21,871 | 8,838 | 2.47× | 2025 | 47,879 |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | 19,020 | 33,427 | 0.57× | 2020 | 100,107 |
| Romania | 11,957 | 28,215 | 0.42× | 2022 | 153,155 |
| Türkiye | 11,782 | 53,517 | 0.22× | 2021 | 202,130 |
| Montenegro | 8,837 | 16,350 | 0.54× | 2017 | 51,531 |
| Greece | 4,249 | 50,193 | 0.08× | 2007 | 271,715 |
| Croatia | 3,318 | 13,246 | 0.25× | 2017 | 67,666 |
| Serbia | 2,582 | 8,106 | 0.32× | 2024 | 38,954 |
| Ireland | 2,450 | 3,200 | 0.77× | 2011 | 16,724 |
| Germany | 2,170 | 912 | 2.38× | 2025 | 5,475 |
* Ukraine excluded from twenty-year rankings; EFFIS coverage begins 2020, totals substantially war-affected. France highlighted (record-year pace). Source: EFFIS / Copernicus, retrieved 30 July 2026.
Comparing 2016–2025 against 2006–2015 reveals the geography of escalation. The steepest rises are not in the Mediterranean heartland but on its edges and to its north.
Romania's burned area rose from 16,180 hectares in the first decade to 548,111 in the second, a +3,288% increase. France rose +656% (34,436 to 260,494 hectares), the United Kingdom +513% (24,805 to 151,954), Türkiye +507% (151,490 to 918,840), Serbia +271%, Hungary +218%, Cyprus +180%.
The traditional fire countries tell a different story. Greece's decade total rose just 2%. Albania's fell 13%. Spain rose 86% and Italy 65%, substantial, but a fraction of the increases recorded to their north. The burden is not simply growing; it is spreading into countries whose landscapes, budgets and emergency services were not built around an annual fire season.
Türkiye's record illustrates the pattern at scale. Its burned area rose +507% decade-over-decade (151,490 hectares to 918,840), and its cumulative 1,070,330 hectares is the fifth-largest absolute total in the index. Its worst mapped year, 2021 (202,130 hectares), produced the Mediterranean fires that killed nine. Two further events appear in the deadliest-fires table: Diyarbakır–Mardin in 2024 (at least 11 deaths) and Eskişehir in 2025 (10 firefighters and rescue workers).
Ireland's decade total rose just 1%, the flattest record in Western Europe alongside Greece's +2%, and its 2026 season is running below its twenty-year average (2,450 hectares, 0.77×).
Decade-over-decade change, 2016–2025 vs 2006–2015: Romania +3,288% · France +656% · United Kingdom +513% · Türkiye +507% · Serbia +271% · Hungary +218% · Cyprus +180% · Montenegro +145% · Bosnia and Herzegovina +134% · Portugal +121% · Croatia +118% · Spain +86% · Italy +65% · Greece +2% · Albania −13%
Source: EFFIS / Copernicus. Land area: World Bank. Montenegro highlighted.
Dividing each country's cumulative 2006–2025 burned area by its land area produces the burn-intensity index: the share of a country's territory burned over two decades, counting reburned land each time it burns.
Montenegro leads the index: 327,005 hectares burned against 13,812 km² of territory, equivalent to 23.7% of the country. Portugal follows at 22.9%, having burned 2,109,543 hectares, the largest cumulative area of any country in the index bar none in absolute terms as well. Albania (17.9%), North Macedonia (13.2%) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (13.1%) complete the top five: four of the five most fire-burdened countries in Europe, relative to their size, are in the Western Balkans.
Burn intensity, 2006–2025, top ten: Montenegro 23.7% · Portugal 22.9% · Albania 17.9% · North Macedonia 13.2% · Bosnia and Herzegovina 13.1% · Greece 7.6% · Cyprus 5.2% · Croatia 4.7% · Italy 3.8% · Spain 3.8%
Compiling every itemised, verified fatal wildfire event across the index countries between 2006 and 2025 produces a record of at least 400 deaths, concentrated overwhelmingly in a small number of catastrophic events rather than spread across seasons. Fatal events from the 2026 season are shown in the table for reference but excluded from the 2006–2025 aggregate.
The Mati fire of 23 July 2018, east of Athens, remains the deadliest single European fire of the period: 104 deaths in a single afternoon. The firestorms of late August 2007 in the Peloponnese killed 67 in five days, within a Greek season that killed at least 84. Portugal's Pedrógão Grande complex killed 66 in June 2017; the October fires that followed killed 51 more, bringing Portugal's 2017 toll to 117. The Evros megafire of 2023, the largest single fire ever recorded in the EU, at 94,250 hectares, killed 20, eighteen of them migrants sheltering in the forest.
| Event | Date | Deaths |
|---|---|---|
| Mati, Greece | Jul 2018 | 104 |
| August firestorms, Greece | Aug 2007 | 67 |
| Pedrógão Grande, Portugal | Jun 2017 | 66 |
| October fires, Portugal | Oct 2017 | 51 |
| Evros, Greece | Aug 2023 | 20 |
| Almería, Spain | Jul 2026 | at least 12 |
| Diyarbakır–Mardin, Türkiye | Jun 2024 | at least 11 |
| Eskişehir, Türkiye | Jul 2025 | 10 |
| September fires, Portugal | Sep 2024 | 9 |
| Mediterranean fires, Türkiye | 2021 | 9 |
| Arakapas, Cyprus | Jul 2021 | 4 |
| Limassol, Cyprus | Jul 2025 | 2 |
Adjusted for population, the human toll falls overwhelmingly on two countries: Greece has recorded at least 20.8 wildfire deaths per million residents across the two decades and Portugal 12.1, an order of magnitude above any other country in the index. The full itemised event list, with sources, is included in the downloadable dataset; totals are verified minimums.
The full index covers all 36 monitored countries. Portugal's 2,109,543 cumulative hectares is the largest absolute total, ahead of Spain (1,901,297), Italy (1,144,530) and Greece (1,003,866). Türkiye's 1,070,330 hectares place it fifth in absolute terms despite ranking mid-table on intensity owing to its size.
Ukraine is reported separately: EFFIS mapping of the country begins in 2020, and its totals since, including 917,848 hectares in 2024 and 600,759 in 2025, are substantially driven by fires in and around areas of military activity. It is excluded from the twenty-year rankings on both grounds and shown in the season table above.
| Country | Total ha 2006–25 | ha per 1,000 km² | % of land burned | Decade change | Worst year | Worst-year ha | 2026 YTD ha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montenegro | 327,005 | 23,675 | 23.68% | +145% | 2017 | 51,531 | 8,837 |
| Portugal | 2,109,543 | 22,874 | 22.87% | +121% | 2017 | 563,530 | 37,422 |
| Albania | 515,343 | 17,926 | 17.93% | −13% | 2007 | 127,491 | 731 |
| North Macedonia | 339,438 | 13,201 | 13.20% | +97% | 2024 | 95,214 | 1,629 |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | 668,548 | 13,055 | 13.06% | +134% | 2020 | 100,107 | 19,020 |
| Greece | 1,003,866 | 7,608 | 7.61% | +2% | 2007 | 271,715 | 4,249 |
| Cyprus | 48,006 | 5,189 | 5.19% | +180% | 2025 | 13,527 | 291 |
| Croatia | 264,920 | 4,681 | 4.68% | +118% | 2017 | 67,666 | 3,318 |
| Italy | 1,144,530 | 3,789 | 3.79% | +65% | 2007 | 153,481 | 69,336 |
| Spain | 1,901,297 | 3,758 | 3.76% | +86% | 2025 | 393,079 | 206,768 |
| Bulgaria | 266,658 | 2,416 | 2.42% | +39% | 2007 | 67,598 | 831 |
| Romania | 564,291 | 2,367 | 2.37% | +3,288% | 2022 | 153,155 | 11,957 |
| Serbia | 162,111 | 1,835 | 1.83% | +271% | 2024 | 38,954 | 2,582 |
| Türkiye | 1,070,330 | 1,366 | 1.37% | +507% | 2021 | 202,130 | 11,782 |
| Ireland | 64,003 | 917 | 0.92% | +1% | 2011 | 16,724 | 2,450 |
| United Kingdom | 176,759 | 723 | 0.72% | +513% | 2025 | 47,879 | 21,871 |
| France | 294,930 | 542 | 0.54% | +656% | 2022 | 66,337 | 91,024 |
| Slovenia | 6,371 | 314 | 0.31% | - | 2022 | 4,388 | 354 |
| Malta | 66 | 209 | 0.21% | - | 2020 | 34 | 0 |
| Hungary | 14,669 | 158 | 0.16% | +218% | 2022 | 7,287 | 508 |
| Belgium | 4,716 | 154 | 0.15% | +9% | 2011 | 2,180 | 299 |
| Sweden | 42,529 | 95 | 0.10% | +60% | 2018 | 21,320 | 185 |
| Germany | 18,241 | 51 | 0.05% | - | 2025 | 5,475 | 2,170 |
| Latvia | 3,221 | 50 | 0.05% | - | 2018 | 2,493 | 318 |
| Norway | 19,142 | 50 | 0.05% | +70% | 2019 | 4,515 | 1,589 |
| Netherlands | 2,024 | 49 | 0.05% | - | 2020 | 822 | 547 |
| Denmark | 1,634 | 38 | 0.04% | - | 2018 | 463 | 70 |
| Austria | 2,123 | 25 | 0.03% | - | 2022 | 1,016 | 273 |
| Poland | 7,279 | 23 | 0.02% | - | 2020 | 5,383 | 1,458 |
| Czechia | 1,581 | 20 | 0.02% | - | 2022 | 1,436 | 41 |
| Slovakia | 879 | 18 | 0.02% | - | 2025 | 362 | 696 |
| Estonia | 558 | 12 | 0.01% | - | 2018 | 385 | 299 |
| Finland | 3,967 | 12 | 0.01% | - | 2021 | 2,558 | 66 |
| Switzerland | 377 | 9 | 0.01% | - | 2022 | 235 | 0 |
| Lithuania | 584 | 9 | 0.01% | - | 2023 | 305 | 46 |
| Luxembourg | 0 | 0 | 0.00% | - | - | 0 | 0 |
Click column headers to sort. Decade change shown only where the first-decade total reached at least 1,000 ha. Source: EFFIS / Copernicus, retrieved 30 July 2026.
All burned-area figures are satellite-mapped totals from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), part of the EU's Copernicus Emergency Management Service, which maps fires of approximately 30 hectares and larger using MODIS and VIIRS imagery. Annual country totals for 2006–2026 were retrieved programmatically from EFFIS's seasonal trend reporting service on 30 July 2026; each figure in the dataset carries its retrieval timestamp. EFFIS-mapped totals differ from national agency statistics, which use different methods and thresholds; EFFIS is used exclusively throughout for cross-country comparability. Rankings cover 2006–2025; 2026 figures are season-to-date and reported separately. Burn intensity divides cumulative burned area by national land area (World Bank), counting land that burned more than once each time it burned; it does not indicate that a fixed quarter of any country's territory has burned exactly once. Decade-over-decade change compares 2016–2025 with 2006–2015 and is reported only where the first-decade total reached at least 1,000 hectares. Ukraine is excluded from twenty-year rankings because EFFIS coverage begins in 2020 and its recent totals are substantially war-affected. Small monitored countries with no mapped fires of 30 hectares or larger in a given year record zero for that year.
Fatality figures are compiled per event from official tolls and contemporaneous primary reporting; the full itemised event list, with sources, is included in the downloadable dataset. Where reported tolls vary, the most widely cited figure is used and the range noted (Greece 2007: reported range 78–85; Portugal 2017: government total of 117 across the June and October events). Where season totals could not be fully itemised, the verified floor is used, so country totals and the 400-death aggregate are minimums. Events with no verified toll are excluded rather than estimated. Deaths per million uses World Bank 2024 population estimates.
The full country-by-year dataset (36 countries, 2006–2026 YTD, with retrieval timestamps) and the itemised deadliest-fires compilation are available as CSVs.
european-wildfire-index.csv
36 countries, annual burned area 2006–2026 YTD, with ISO codes and retrieval timestamps.
deadliest-fires.csv
Itemised fatal wildfire events 2006–2025, with sources and confidence ratings.
Citation: Ranking Atlas, "The European Wildfire Index", July 2026. Source data: European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Copernicus Emergency Management Service.
This research is free to reference and republish with attribution. If you use these findings, please link to the full study as the source. For a different cut of the dataset, any country, region, or time window, or methodology questions: contact@ranking-atlas.com. Same-day turnaround on data requests during the fire season.
Ranking Atlas is a specialist data campaigns firm. We turn primary-source data and original analysis into studies that earn authoritative coverage. For methodology questions or research enquiries: contact@ranking-atlas.com.
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