The EU is on its way to a fire record. Extreme heat waves combined with widespread drought have led to summer’s devastating wildfires. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, about 1.6 million acres [aproximativ 650.000 hectare – n.trad.] Land – an area eight times the size of New York – has burned on the continent since the beginning of the year.

This figure is 56% higher than the previous record set in 2017 and twice the annual average calculated for the period 2006-2021, according to the EU institution, as cited by the Washington Post.

Spain, Romania and Portugal are the most affected EU countries; thousands of people died from the heat. Last week in the Gironde region of southwestern France, home to the famous Bordeaux vineyards, hundreds of firefighters from across the EU rushed to help put out a fire that ravaged thousands of hectares of pine forest.

“He really is a fire-breathing dragon,” the local mayor told my colleagues. – The forest is devouring.

Drought in many parts of Europe is both a cause and a consequence of the continent’s unusually hot summer, as my colleagues at the Capital Weather Gang explained: “Hot temperatures dry out the landscape, which dries out the atmosphere, which in turn helps the air to heat up more easily. This cycle is extremely difficult to break, especially when the overall weather pattern favors the emergence of an elongated high pressure area or the establishment of a high pressure front over Europe.

This high-pressure ‘heat dome’ is pushing storms and rain northwards, leaving Europe to burn under the sun’s inevitable rays and abnormal weather.”

Analysts believe that these conditions will only worsen in the coming summer. The European Commission’s report warned that “climate change is making the situation worse, making countries more prone to forest fires and increasing the intensity of such events.” /…/

Despite the hot summer, Europeans are preparing for winter, including through a more rustic approach. Bloomberg News’ Javier Blas recently noted that Google searches for “firewood” have increased significantly in Germany. And this is not an anomaly at all. In Belgium and the Netherlands, firewood prices have doubled in some cases. In war-torn Ukraine, city halls have begun cutting down trees in preparation for the uncertainty of war and the bitter cold it can bring.

In Hungary, whose illiberal government bucked the European trend and negotiated additional imports of Russian gas, the state eased restrictions on forest use in an effort to increase firewood supplies. The decision sparked protests in Budapest, where last week thousands of people marched against the measure, which they see as harmful to the environment. /…/

The material was made with the support of the Rador agency