Why are wildfires intensifying in Europe?

Context

Europe is battling intense wildfires with countries like Spain, Greece and France struggling to stamp out fires and contain the damage.

What is a wildfire?

• A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire that burns in the wildland vegetation, often in rural areas. 
• Wildfires can burn in forests, grasslands, savannas, and other ecosystems, and have been doing so for hundreds of millions of years.
• They are not limited to a particular continent or environment.

What causes Wildfire?

• Wildfires require right climatic conditions, burnable fuel and a spark.
• Rising temperatures suck moisture out of plants, creating an abundance of dry fuel.
• Drought and high heat can kill plants and dry out dead grass, and other material on the forest floor that fuel the fire once it starts sweeping through a patch.
• While dry vegetation is the burnable fuel that serves as kindling for fires, the spark is sometimes caused by lightning, at other times by accident or recklessness of the local population.

Wildfire in Europe

• As for Europe, the region has been hit by an early fire season due to an unusually dry, hot spring that left the soil parched.
• Authorities attribute this to climate change. They add that the fires are being fanned by earlier-than-usual extreme temperatures and drought conditions in some parts.
• Wildfire experts agree as they see clear climate change signatures in the dryness, high heat and early fire season.
  

How badly has Europe been hit?

• PORTUGAL: Temperatures hit 47 degrees Celsius in Portugal recently. There will be no respite for the next one week, according to the country’s meteorological department.
• According to Portugal’s Health Ministry, In the last seven days 659 people have died due to the heatwave, most of them elderly. 
• SPAIN: In Spain, firefighters aided by the country’s armed forces’ emergency brigades are battling over 30 fires consuming forests spread across the country.
• Spain has been experiencing a nearly week-long heatwave, with highs of 45.7 degrees Celsius.
• FRANCE: In France, regional authorities said that wildfires had now spread over 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) in the southwestern region of Gironde, and more than 14,000 people have been evacuated. 
• More than 1,200 firefighters are currently engaged in operations to stamp out the blazes.
• GREECE: The fire brigade said that 71 blazes had broken out within 24 hours. more than 150 firefighters were tackling a fire burning forest and farmland in Rethymno on the island of Crete. The flames were fuelled by strong winds.
• United Kingdom: In Britain, the national weather forecaster has issued its first red “extreme heat” warning for parts of England, predicting temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius. 
• This would breach the previous record of 38.7 degrees Celsius in 2019.

How dangerous is inhaling wildfire smoke?

• While fire poses a direct risk to people’s life and property, wildfire smoke, and particularly the concentration of PM 2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 microns, can also affect the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
• For those already suffering from cardiovascular or respiratory illnesses, there is a risk of flare-ups.