358,000 hectares have already burned in the fires in Spain

358,000 hectares burned, and 33,000 people were forced to be relocated. In just two weeks, Spain suffered 19 of the 50 largest fires of the last decade, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), writes El País .

Lower temperatures are helping to control the most serious fires that are still raging, but it is already certain that 2025 will be the country's worst year since 2022, when 306,000 hectares burned, reports the Spanish newspaper.

Data from the same website for Portugal indicates a burned area of ​​278,383 hectares, which is the second worst record since 2017.

The 358,000 hectares burned since August 8 include the fires of Larouco (Galicia) and Uña de Quintana (Castile and León), the largest recorded in Spain since the EFFIS studies began, available from 2016 (although there are older statistics on fires).

Across Europe, only eight fires have burned an area larger than Larouco, the Spanish newspaper also reports. The most devastating was the one that destroyed Dadia National Park in Greece in August 2023, according to EFFIS—the fire covered an area of ​​nearly 100,000 hectares.

Spain is already the European Union territory most affected by wildfires in 2025, accounting for 40% of the burned area across the 27 countries. Along with Portugal, the two countries account for 66% of what has burned so far in the European Union, making 2025 "the worst year on record in the entire EU," El País continues, citing EFFIS data. The fires have already consumed more than one million hectares, 100,000 hectares more than the previous maximum, recorded in 2017. On the continent, only Ukraine, devastated by the war with Russia, surpasses Spain's figure.