There is still almost a month ahead, but the summer of 2025 will already be remembered as The fire. You have to go back three decades ago, to 1994to find a year in which the flames will devour more forest area. The fire has devastated hectares, lives have been charged, He has calcined houses and Farms and has affected natural icons such as Las Médulasin the region of El Bierzo, now dyed black.
Despite the strength of all these images there is one that even more resounding the scourge of fire in Spain: The map that compares the open surface this year in our country with the burned in other nations, such as France or Italy.
What happened? If we talk about forest fires, the saying that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is more true than ever, although the strongest images do not always show flames, calcined trees or smoke columns. Recently The World in Maps, a community with more than 700,000 followers on Instagram, published A map of Europe in which the surface razed in several countries of the continent. And the difference from Spain with respect to some of its closest neighbors, such as Portugal, Italy or France, is overwhelming.
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Why’s that? Because it shows that on August 19 in Spain more than 348,000 hectares had been burned compared to 216,200 in Portugal, the 125,400 of Romania, 65,100 of Italy or 35,600 in France. Each nation has a different extension (only quintuplica peninsular The surface from Portugal), but still the comparison is eloquent. Spain is the one that has seen carbonized more hectares, surpassing other more extensive countries from afar, Like France.
Where do the data come from? The World in Maps does not need it, but its estimates correspond more or less with those of Effisthe European Forest Fire Information System, included in the Copernicus program. The graph was prepared with data a week ago and EFFIS table It is constantly updated, so that the drawing has changed slightly since then, but the differences between nations remain more or less stable.
What do they show? Right now Effis speaks of 415,300 hectares in Spain, 271,000 in Portugal, 126,000 in Romania, 72,100 in Italy and 35,600 in France. Eduardo Rojas, spokesman Official College of Engineers of MontesRemember that these figures should be handled with some caution. At the moment it is only “an advance”, an area estimation affected by the flames made with satellite data but that may not correspond exactly with reality.
“Not everything has burned and not everything is forest terrain, there are reservoirs, roads …”, he warns. Effis also shows that, beyond the number of hectares razed, if we talk about the percentage of national surface affected Spain It is not the worst stop. In that case, the most tragic balance has it Portugal and Chipre.
But … how is the difference explained? They are more or less precise, which reflects the map of The World in Maps (and The tables of EFFIS) is the clear difference of burned surface in Spain and other countries in Europe. So the question is obvious … What is the reason for that challenge? Rojas recalls that a key factor in the case of the Iberian Peninsula is climatology. Drought and heat waves like those suffered throughout July and August “exacerbate” fires. “Meteorological severity has a huge effect and causes hectares to vary.”
Spain is not in fact the only one that has suffered fires more voracious of the usual. In early August, in full heat wavesouthern France saw them with its worse forest fire since the end of the 1940s. And it is not the only one. Portugal has also dealt with a Historical scourge In their mountains. The climatic, temperature and humidity differences in the different regions of the continent are an important factor that influences the voracity of the fires.
Is it the only explanation? No. Rojas remembers that “the basic problem” is really another: progressive abandonment from rural and the accumulation of biomass and weeds that, at a given time, can feed the flames. The spokesman of the College of Engineers of Montes dimiates in fact to go beyond the data of each year and assess “the trend”. And in that case what is observed is a more or less stable number of fires and the effect of the effort to reduce landfills and control agricultural burning, although they are still present in Spain.
Recently the Professional College itself He pointed out as a successful model the “ancestral forest management” of the Pinares regionbetween Soria and Burgos, where despite the enormous wooded surface there are no fires as devastating as those he has suffered The triangle formed by Ourense, León or Zamora.
The reason? Partly the system of “Good luck of pines” That its inhabitants apply, a method that traces its roots to the Middle Ages and allows local communities to favor the care and management of forest masses, while also reinforcing their link and feeling of belonging.
Is it something expected? The answer is affirming again. Javier MadrigalMontes engineer and researcher at the Institute of Forest Sciences of the CSIC, insists on the importance of meteorology but points to “structural reasons” in the background. “It is summarized in the abandonment of forest and agricultural management in Europe, which in a climate change scenario makes a year of adverse meteorology as this is being in the Iberian Peninsula we have broken surface records burned since 1994,” slides: “This trend was predicted by all models.”
“The one in different parts of the Mediterranean is a cyclical process that depends on the meteorology,” abounds the ICF-CSIC expert, who remembers that already There are studies which show that the fire regime is not the same in different Mediterranean countries. “At country scale, the meteorological reasons more influence than socioeconomic, also seeing very aggressive fire regimes in Algeria, Greece and Türkiye, for example,” he concludes.
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