Climate skeptics and right-wing commentators have circulated social media claims asserting that Europe is having its “quietest” year for wildfires in 2026, citing data showing minimal cumulative burned area compared to previous years in the dataset. Prominent figures including former Conservative peer Matt Ridley, newly appointed Trump administration official Matthew Wielicki, and commentator Bjorn Lomborg shared charts from the Global Wildfire Information System to support these assertions.
However, these claims rely on data that encompass the entire European continent, including Russia, which accounts for approximately 74 percent of the total area in the comparison. Russian wildfires typically represent 80 to 90 percent of burned area in this dataset, and fire activity in Russia during 2026 is substantially below average. This geographic inclusion masks the actual situation in western Europe, where fire activity is exceptionally high. Additionally, the data include intentionally lit agricultural fires, a declining practice across much of Europe, which further distorts the comparison.
Analysis using European Union-specific data from the European Forest Fire Information System reveals a markedly different picture. As of July 29, cumulative burned area across EU member states stood at nearly 435,000 hectares, ranking second only to 2022 for this point in the year. France has established a modern record for area burned, with cumulative damage exceeding its previous annual record by more than 24,700 hectares. Spain’s wildfire season ranks among the worst since records began in 2006, with burned area nearly five times the typical amount for this period.
The fires have resulted in mass evacuations across southwestern Europe. More than 220,000 people were evacuated from the Gironde fire region west of Bordeaux, described by the Associated Press as potentially France’s largest peacetime evacuation. In Spain, approximately 90,000 people were displaced from central regions near Madrid. Government officials from France and Spain have characterized the fires as expressions of climate change and national security threats, with Pedro Sánchez describing them as a “painful expression” of the phenomenon.
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