Forest fires in the EU – 2023 report.

According to the latest report summarizing the 2023 forest fires, published by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center, the fire consumed more than 500,000 hectares of natural land. This is an area that is roughly half the size of the island of Cyprus. An indirect cause of the increasingly frequent fires on the Old Continent is drought and water shortages in forests.

Forest fires in the EU – drought and water shortages

The main cause of forest fires is catastrophic drought, caused by climate change. The impact of this change was highlighted in the first-ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) and the European Commission’s Communication on Climate Risk Management in Europe, published this year.

Climate change not only increases the area affected by fires, but also extends the fire season beyond the traditional summer period, and causes them to occur in areas not normally affected. We wrote about record temperatures and fires in July in 2023 in a previous article: July 2023. month of fires and heat records.

Long-term droughts lead to a drop in groundwater levels and cause significant water shortages in forests. The lack of water deprives plants of nutrients, thereby causing them to die, and consequently increases their susceptibility to fires.

EU forest fires a growing challenge for firefighting services

The high incidence and intensity of forest fires during prolonged fire seasons poses a challenge to firefighting services in Europe and around the world. Ground operations are becoming more difficult, if not impossible, and extinguishing from the air is more problematic and cumbersome.

The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) was created to address these challenges. It is a network of 43 countries that provide information on forest fires in their areas and assess their impact in Europe. It is also a platform for sharing good practices in fire prevention, suppression, restoration and other fire management activities.

As of 2015. EFFIS is one component of the Copernicus emergency management services, the EU’s Earth observation program, which provides information on the planet and its environment from both satellite monitoring and in situ data.

How to combat the causes of forest fires?

To counter forest fires in Europe and globally, landscapes in vulnerable regions should be managed by preventing the accumulation of high-risk fuels and their spatial continuity. Another measure to reduce the risk of forest fires are preventive measures based on nature’s resources, such as promoting the species composition of less fire-prone trees, allowing grazing and an integrated approach to landscape planning.

According to the report, about 96 percent of forest fires in the EU were caused by human actions, which means that education and awareness campaigns are an essential element to prevent fires. It is important that as the climate crisis deepens, the people of Europe prepare for more frequent and intense forest fires. Preventive measures must include all communities, with particular emphasis on populations living in rural areas and in direct contact with natural areas. A key role in countering forest fires in the EU is played by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center, which, through the analyses it performs, provides a wealth of valuable information on recommendations for targeting policy and protecting fire-prone regions.

Forest fires in the EU in 2024. – preliminary data

A preliminary assessment of the 2024 fire season in the EU shows that fires consumed less area than the average of the past two decades. This is mainly due to the periodic rainfall that affected much of the EU in spring and summer.

At the same time, the numerous forest fires that broke out in Portugal in September caused damage to exceed the EU average of recent decades. All in all, however, 2024 can be considered a less severe year for vegetation, as damage showed a downward trend for the first time in three years.