Fires devastated over 1 mln hectares in the EU in 2025, Romania third most affected

Fires have devastated over 1 million hectares (over 10,000 square kilometers) in the European Union in 2025, a record area since these statistics began in 2006, according to an AFP analysis of data from the European Forest Fire Information System. Romania ranks third in this classification, after Spain and Portugal.

The estimation takes into account only fires that burned more than 30 hectares. Overall, the affected area surpasses the 988,524 hectares of forest that were reduced to ashes in 2017, the previous record.

Four EU member states – Spain, Cyprus, Germany, and Slovakia – have already exceeded their annual record of the past 20 years, since this data has been recorded.

Spain is still facing fires, aside from the ones that have caused four deaths this year. The country in the Iberian Peninsula is the most affected EU state, with over 400,000 hectares (4,000 square kilometers) burned, representing almost 40% of the areas burned this year in the EU. Earlier this week, Romania deployed firefighters to Spain to help combat the wildfires.

Portugal, where three people died in fires, is the second most affected country, with nearly 274,000 hectares burned.

Romania ranks third in this classification, with 126,000 hectares.

In France, 35,600 hectares of forest were reduced to ashes in the Aude department, devastated by a huge fire in August.

(Photo source: DSU on Facebook)