Data Report

The European Wildfire Index: Country Wildfire Data From 2006-2026

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

France: annual EFFIS-mapped burned area, 2006–2026 YTD
Hectares. 2026 is season to date (30 July). Previous record year (2022) and 2026 highlighted.
2006
1,751
2007
2,631
2008
1,694
2009
7,974
2010
4,653
2011
4,831
2012
3,298
2013
891
2014
4,667
2015
2,046
2016
10,674
2017
20,626
2018
2,528
2019
43,561
2020
14,547
2021
30,652
2022
66,337
2023
22,350
2024
12,268
2025
36,951
2026
91,024 *

* 2026 season to date (30 July). Source: EFFIS / Copernicus.

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<iframe src="https://ranking-atlas.com/resources/european-wildfire-index" width="100%" height="620" style="border:none;" title="France burned area 2006-2026 | European Wildfire Index | Ranking Atlas"></iframe>
<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.

Key takeaways

  • 11,051,539 hectares of Europe burned between 2006 and 2025 across the 36 countries in the index, an area larger than Portugal, Hungary, or Austria.
  • France has already burned past its worst year on record. 91,024 hectares have been mapped in 2026 to date, against 66,337 hectares in all of 2022, the previous full-year record, with August, historically the peak month, still ahead. The season so far stands at 6.2 times France's twenty-year average.
  • Montenegro tops the burn-intensity index: 23.7% of its entire land area burned in twenty years. Portugal is second at 22.9% (2,109,543 hectares), Albania third at 17.9%.
  • France recorded a +656% increase in burned area decade-over-decade (2016–2025 vs 2006–2015), the largest rise of any major Western European country. The United Kingdom rose +513%, Türkiye +507%, Romania +3,288% from a low base.
  • Spain's 2026 season is running at 2.18 times its twenty-year average (206,768 hectares to date), twelve months after 2025 became its worst mapped year on record (393,079 hectares).
  • At least 400 wildfire deaths were recorded across the index countries 2006–2025, dominated by single catastrophic events. The Mati fire alone killed 104 people in one afternoon. Adjusted for population, Greece (20.8 deaths per million) and Portugal (12.1) carry an order of magnitude more of the human toll than any other country.
  • Greece's decade total was nearly flat (+2%) while Bosnia and Herzegovina (+134%), Croatia (+118%), Portugal (+121%) and Cyprus (+180%) all more than doubled.
  • The EU27's 2025 total of 1,079,538 hectares was the bloc's worst year on record, nearly double the 2006–2024 annual average, per the Joint Research Centre's annual wildfire assessment (JRC/EFFIS, March 2026).

“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

France has already passed its worst wildfire year on record

France: annual EFFIS-mapped burned area, 2006–2026 YTD
Hectares. 2026 is season to date (30 July). Previous record year (2022) and 2026 highlighted.
2006
1,751
2007
2,631
2008
1,694
2009
7,974
2010
4,653
2011
4,831
2012
3,298
2013
891
2014
4,667
2015
2,046
2016
10,674
2017
20,626
2018
2,528
2019
43,561
2020
14,547
2021
30,652
2022
66,337
2023
22,350
2024
12,268
2025
36,951
2026
91,024 *

* 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.

The 2026 season so far

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.

Europe's fires are moving north and west

Decade-over-decade change in burned area
2016–2025 vs 2006–2015. Countries with ≥1,000 ha in the first decade. Romania (+3,288%) truncated for readability.
Romania
+3,288%
France
+656%
United Kingdom
+513%
Türkiye
+507%
Serbia
+271%
Hungary
+218%
Cyprus
+180%
Montenegro
+145%
Bosnia & Herz.
+134%
Portugal
+121%
Croatia
+118%
North Macedonia
+97%
Spain
+86%
Norway
+70%
Italy
+65%
Sweden
+60%
Bulgaria
+39%
Belgium
+9%
Greece
+2%
Ireland
+1%
Albania
-13%
Increase
Decrease

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%

Proportion of land area burned in the last 20 years

Burn intensity index: share of national land area burned, 2006–2025
Cumulative EFFIS-mapped burned area as a percentage of each country's territory. Top 10 countries.
Montenegro
23.7%
Portugal
22.9%
Albania
17.9%
North Macedonia
13.2%
Bosnia & Herz.
13.1%
Greece
7.6%
Cyprus
5.2%
Croatia
4.7%
Italy
3.8%
Spain
3.8%

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%

Europe's deadliest fire events, 2006–2026

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: 36 countries, 2006-2025

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.

Highland Scotland: a regional cut of the fire record

EFFIS fire perimeter polygons, clipped to the Highland council area (25,657 km²), produce a sub-national series for 2016 to 2026 that is not available from the country-level seasonal trend data used elsewhere in this study. Highland is the largest council area in Scotland by land area and the largest in the United Kingdom, covering approximately a third of Scotland's territory and a tenth of the UK's.

Highland: EFFIS-mapped burned area, 2016–2026 YTD
Hectares. 2026 is season to date (5 August). Peak year (2019) and 2025 highlighted.
2016
503
2017
2,884
2018
10,472
2019
12,583
2020
701
2021
1,796
2022
4,305
2023
6,379
2024
1,825
2025
11,455
2026
4,428 *

* 2026 season to date (5 August). Source: EFFIS / Copernicus fire perimeters, clipped to Highland council area (ONS, S12000017).

Year Highland ha Scotland ha UK ha Highland % of Scotland Highland % of UK
2016 503 825 1,197 61.0% 42.0%
2017 2,884 3,339 5,130 86.4% 56.2%
2018 10,472 10,753 18,033 97.4% 58.1%
2019 12,583 21,852 29,391 57.6% 42.8%
2020 701 3,089 14,410 22.7% 4.9%
2021 1,796 5,040 8,092 35.6% 22.2%
2022 4,305 7,510 22,893 57.3% 18.8%
2023 6,379 7,460 9,344 85.5% 68.3%
2024 1,825 2,295 2,497 79.5% 73.1%
2025 11,455 30,231 54,008 37.9% 21.2%
2026 * 4,428 5,980 25,200 74.0% 17.6%

* 2026 season to date (5 August). UK column is perimeter totals (see methodology note on divergence from seasonal trend). Source: EFFIS / Copernicus fire perimeters.

Between 2016 and 2025, EFFIS mapped 52,903 hectares of burned land within the Highland council area, 57.3% of Scotland's total (92,394 hectares) and 32.1% of the UK's perimeter total (164,995 hectares). A single council area covering a tenth of the UK's land area accounted for nearly a third of its mapped fire burden over the period.

Highland's worst mapped year was 2019 (12,583 hectares), when 34 fires of 30 hectares or larger were recorded, accounting for 57.6% of Scotland's burned area and 42.8% of the UK total that year. The second-largest year was 2025 (11,455 hectares), followed by 2018 (10,472 hectares across 24 fires of 30 hectares or larger). In 2018 and 2019, Highland accounted for 97.4% and 57.6% of Scotland's mapped burned area respectively: the majority of Scotland's fire burden in both years fell within a single council area.

The 2025 data illustrates the difference between satellite-mapped perimeters and ground estimates of area affected. Scottish Land and Estates estimated the Carrbridge and Dava fires of late June and early July 2025 affected 11,827 hectares (29,225 acres), which landowners described as the largest fires in Scotland's recorded history. EFFIS mapped the Dava complex as a single perimeter of 9,809 hectares, of which 4,728 hectares (48.2%) falls inside the Highland council area and the remainder in Moray. The divergence between the two figures reflects the difference between satellite-mapped perimeter area and ground-based estimates of area affected, and the boundary split attributing only the Highland portion of the complex to the Highland total.

Highland fire is concentrated in spring. Across 2016 to 2025, an average of 65% of the annual mapped burned area occurred by the end of April and 99.6% by the end of June. July fires are close to absent from the record: the mapped July total across the nine years 2016 to 2024 is 168 hectares. The Cairngorms fire that began on 15 July 2026 accounts for 3,346 hectares of Highland's 2026 total, making it the only July fire above 200 hectares in the eleven-year perimeter record, and the fourth-largest single Highland fire perimeter recorded since 2016. The largest is a Caithness and Sutherland fire of 13 May 2019 (5,428 hectares); the Dava complex of 28 June 2025 is second on its Highland portion (4,728 hectares).

Ten-year average monthly distribution of Highland burned area, 2016–2025: Jan 1.0% · Feb 2.4% · Mar 19.9% · Apr 41.8% · May 25.2% · Jun 9.4% · Jul 0.3% · Aug–Dec 0.1%

The Cairngorms National Park spans four council areas (Highland, Moray, Aberdeenshire and Perth and Kinross) and covers 4,527 km², so it is reported separately from the Highland council series rather than as a subset of it. Across 2016 to 2024, EFFIS mapped 697 hectares of burned land inside the park, with no single fire perimeter exceeding 55 hectares. The fire that began on 15 July 2026 mapped 3,346 hectares inside the park: 4.8 times the park's entire 2016 to 2024 total, and the largest EFFIS-mapped fire perimeter within the boundary since the perimeter record begins. The park's cumulative 2016 to 2026 mapped burn is 6,467 hectares, 1.43% of its land area, of which 78% was mapped in 2025 and 2026.

Cairngorms National Park, EFFIS-mapped perimeters: 2016 0 ha · 2017 0 ha · 2018 73 ha · 2019 52 ha · 2020 112 ha · 2021 326 ha · 2022 51 ha · 2023 35 ha · 2024 47 ha · 2025 1,489 ha · 2026 4,281 ha (season to date)

Decade-over-decade change cannot be computed for Highland because the EFFIS fire perimeter product, which is required for sub-national analysis, is publicly available from 2016 only (see methodology). The 2026 season to date stands at 4,428 hectares across 12 fires of 30 hectares or larger; the Cairngorms fire that began on 15 July in the Glenmore and Loch Morlich area was still active at retrieval and accounts for 3,347 hectares of the total. The figure will rise as mapping of the active fire completes. For context, the United Kingdom as a whole recorded a +513% decade-over-decade increase in the country-level seasonal trend data used in the main index, the third-steepest rise in Europe after Romania and France.

Highland, EFFIS-mapped perimeters, 2016–2025: total 52,903 ha · ten-year average 5,290 ha/yr · worst year 2019 (12,583 ha) · share of Scotland 57.3% · share of UK 32.1% · 2026 season to date 4,428 ha (Cairngorms fire 3,347 ha, still active at retrieval)

Methodology

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.

The Highland Scotland regional cut uses EFFIS fire perimeter polygons (the modis.ba.poly product) rather than the seasonal-trend country totals used for all other figures in this study. The two are not directly interchangeable: perimeter totals sum individual mapped fire polygons, while the seasonal-trend API reports aggregated national figures, and the two can diverge by 10 to 15 per cent in a given year. The EFFIS perimeter product includes mapped perimeters below the nominal 30-hectare reporting threshold, down to approximately 1 hectare; this differs from the seasonal-trend country data used elsewhere in the study, where the approximately-30-hectare floor applies. Counts of fires quoted in the Highland section are restricted to perimeters of 30 hectares or larger in their full EFFIS extent, while burned-area totals include all mapped perimeters intersecting the boundary regardless of size. Highland totals should still be read as a mapped-fire floor rather than a complete record, since the perimeter product does not capture every ground-level burn. The perimeter product is publicly available via the EFFIS WFS from 2016 only; pre-2016 perimeters require a formal data request and are not included. Each fire polygon is attributed to Highland or Scotland by geometric intersection: the area of overlap between the fire perimeter and each boundary is computed in British National Grid (EPSG:27700), so fires that straddle a boundary are split proportionally rather than attributed in full to one side. Boundaries are the Highland council area (ONS Open Geography Portal, Local Authority Districts May 2025, generalised clipped, code S12000017) and the Scotland country boundary (ONS, Countries December 2025, generalised clipped), simplified at 0.01° tolerance for computation; the simplification introduces negligible area error at the scale of fires mapped by EFFIS. The Cairngorms National Park series uses the designated park boundary from the Scottish Government protected sites dataset (post-2010 boundary including the Perth and Kinross extension), intersected in EPSG:27700 on the same basis as the Highland series. The park boundary overlaps the Highland council area and extends into Moray, Aberdeenshire and Perth and Kinross; the two series overlap and must not be summed.

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.

Data licences and attribution. European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Copernicus Emergency Management Service, © European Union, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; figures have been aggregated, normalised, and combined with other sources as described above.

National land area figures: World Bank Open Data, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Boundary data: ONS Open Geography Portal (Local Authority Districts May 2025, Countries December 2025). Cairngorms National Park boundary: Scottish Government, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Download the data

The full country-by-year dataset (36 countries, 2006–2026 YTD, with retrieval timestamps), the itemised deadliest-fires compilation, and the Highland Scotland regional cut are available as CSVs.

european-wildfire-index.csv

36 countries, annual burned area 2006–2026 YTD, with ISO codes and retrieval timestamps.

Download CSV

deadliest-fires.csv

Itemised fatal wildfire events 2006–2025, with sources and confidence ratings.

Download CSV

highland-wildfire-data.csv

Highland, Scotland and UK annual burned area from EFFIS perimeters, 2016–2026 YTD, with retrieval timestamp.

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Citation: Ranking Atlas, "The European Wildfire Index", July 2026. Source data: European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Copernicus Emergency Management Service.

Fair use

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