Wildfires across Europe have killed hundreds over the last decade, report says
12 reported
A report on wildfires across Europe states that they have killed hundreds of people over the last decade, with climate change expected to push the death toll higher. A wildfire in southern Spain killed at least 11 people overnight into Friday morning, making it one of the country’s deadliest on record. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Scientists warn that climate change caused in part by the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness. The article lists several deadly wildfires from the last decade, including Greece’s 2018 fire that killed more than 100 people, and Portugal’s 2017 fires that killed over 120 people. In Turkey, 10 firefighters and rescue workers were killed last July while fighting a wildfire. In Cyprus, at least six lives have been claimed by wildfires over the last five years.
What’s reported
A wildfire in southern Spain killed at least 11 people overnight into Friday morning, making it one of the country’s deadliest on record.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, per the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing several intense heat waves across Europe.
Greece’s deadliest wildfire was in 2018, when a blaze swept through Mati, east of Athens, killing more than 100 people.
In 2023, more than 20 people died in Greek wildfires, including 18 migrants trapped by flames in northeastern Greece.
Last week, a wildfire in northern Greece killed a 12-year-old boy and his father.
Last July, 10 firefighters and rescue workers were killed in a wildfire in Eskisehir province, northwestern Turkey.
Portugal’s deadliest wildfire left 66 people dead in 2017 in Pedrogao Grande; additional late-season fires brought the 2017 annual death toll to more than 120 people.
In Cyprus, at least six lives have been claimed by wildfires over the last five years.
In July 2021, the charred remains of four Egyptian laborers were discovered outside a fire-swept mountain village in Cyprus.
Last July, rescue crews found the bodies of an elderly couple inside a gutted car on a mountain road in Cyprus.
A study by World Weather Attribution in August last year said climate change made massive wildfires in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus burn much more fiercely that summer.
Key figures
Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli (Turkey)
President Nikos Christodoulides (Cyprus)
Sources: abcnews.com
