• Record 1 million hectares across Europe went up in flames this year, the most since tracking began in 2006
• Deadly season exposed deep weaknesses in Europe’s fire management, with experts warning that extreme blazes are no longer an exception but the new reality
• ‘These are fires that cannot be put out. It’s not a matter of technology, it’s not a matter of power,’ says forestry engineering expert Victor Resco de Dios
• ‘This is a situation that is completely out of the ordinary,’ according to Domingos Xavier Viegas, director of Portugal’s Forest Fire Research Center

ISTANBUL

Europe is breathing a sigh of relief after a devastating wildfire season, but the charred landscapes left behind raise difficult questions about why the continent remains so unprepared to prevent and contain such blazes.

This year, a record-breaking 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) went up in flames – the most since the European Forest Fire Information System began tracking in 2006.

Spain and Portugal were hardest hit. Spain lost 400,000 hectares (988,400 acres), six times more than its average, while Portugal saw 270,000 hectares (667,700 acres) burned. At least 11 people were killed across both countries.

The destruction was not only physical. The season exposed deep weaknesses in Europe’s fire management, with experts warning that extreme wildfires are no longer the exception but the new reality.  

‘Fires that cannot be put out’

Victor Resco de Dios, a forestry engineering professor at the University of Lleida in Spain, said the fires were fueled by forests overloaded with combustible organic material.

“These are fires that cannot be put out. It’s not a matter of technology, it’s not a matter of power. It’s a matter of fuel, energy and physics,” he told Anadolu.

Once flames rise above 5 meters (16 feet), he explained, firefighting becomes nearly impossible. This summer, some blazes in Spain reached 25 meters (82 feet) and emitted more than 15 times the energy that qualifies a blaze as extreme.

In August, several megafires erupted simultaneously across the Iberian Peninsula, overwhelming emergency systems.

“They do a triage, so they go to the places they consider most important, and the other ones, they leave abandoned. This creates a lot of discontent,” Resco de Dios said, explaining that many residents were left to fend for themselves.

In Spain, anger boiled over in regions such as Leon and Galicia, where thousands protested what they saw as failures by both regional and national governments in handling the fires.

Domingos Xavier Viegas, director of Portugal’s Forest Fire Research Center (CEIF) at the University of Coimbra, also pointed to the difficulties in controlling this year’s fires.

“This is a situation that is completely out of the ordinary,” Viegas told Anadolu, stressing that fires were spreading in areas where they would not normally be expected.

“These fires spread in such conditions, in such intensity, that it is not possible to suppress them. And this is new,” he said, noting that fire behavior has changed dramatically in recent decades under the pressures of climate change.

The World Weather Attribution network found that the hot, dry and windy conditions behind the fires are now 40 times more likely due to global warming.

Both Viegas and Resco de Dios also cited rural exodus, poor landscape management, and declining local agriculture as structural factors making Europe’s forests more vulnerable.

“These are fires that cannot be put out, but they can be prevented,” Resco de Dios said. “What we are witnessing these days is just a preview of what’s going to happen … In 10 or 20 years, seasons like the one we had this year will be viewed as very benign.”  

Prevention gap and what needs to change

Resco de Dios argued that prevention systems are still “nowhere near enough” and that public awareness of fire risk remains low, stressing that both administrations and the population should take the risks more seriously.

“We cannot fight these fires the way we were fighting them 30 years ago. They’re very different. They require intelligence. They require analysis. And this is something that some regions in Spain still need to improve,” he explained.

“If we don’t take care of nature, then we’re going to have to pay a big bill.”

Viegas agreed, pointing to gaps in funding, strategy and citizen participation.

“There are always things that should and could be done, but they are not done for many reasons: lack of perception, lack of money, lack of power or willingness,” he said.

Experts stress that firefighting alone is not enough – Europe must rethink how its landscapes are managed.

“We need to have a mosaic of vegetation, like a patchwork with different land uses. We need to have some more forests, some growth forests, some olive orchards, some vineyards,” Resco de Dios said.

Properly managed areas like tilled olive orchards can act as “fire bricks” that slow or stop flames, he explained, while reiterating the need for more fire prevention in strategic points of a landscape where fires can grow rapidly.

He also urged wider use of prescribed burns and grazing to reduce dangerous fuel build-ups.

“(A controlled burn) is going to eat this excess fuel in a low-intensity fire. That will, in turn, prevent a high-intensity fire,” Resco de Dios explained.

He further urged city halls to approve fire prevention plans and criticized governments for failing to inform citizens about the fire risk. However, he also stressed the importance of individual responsibility.

“People need to establish this culture of risk, this risk awareness, because otherwise, we’re just going to be living clueless,” he said.

Viegas emphasized gradual, consistent reform instead of reactionary resets after each crisis. “We need to have a line of direction. We need to have a strategy and follow that,” he stressed, noting that the tendency to start from scratch after a disaster can undermine progress.

Authorities, he added, cannot carry the responsibility alone. He urged more citizen awareness in managing the vegetation and fuels around their homes.

“Everyone should be counted on, including and mainly the citizens,” he said. “They should also be part of the system and of the process – from my point of view, this is very important.”