Spain’s historic wildfire season may soon get relief, forecasters say

Spain has never seen a wildfire season like 2025.

The nation, on average, only sees around 15,000 burnt acres (6,000 hectares) by Aug. 19, according to the European Union’s Earth observation arm. So far in 2025, the nation has experienced 437,000 burnt acres (177,000 hectares).

Spain’s totals have skewed wildfire data throughout the EU. Officials on Tuesday said wildfires have burned 2,389,573 acres (967,026 hectares) since the beginning of the year. That is much more than the average of 602,964 acres (244,011 hectares) recorded at this time of year over the past 19 years.

Spain and surrounding nations may soon see some relief from fire weather, while others in northern Europe see an increase in risk, according to the EU’s Joint Research Centre.

“Conditions are expected to ease across most of southern Europe and FWI anomalies may drop in the Iberian Peninsula, France, Italy, the Balkans, and Greece,” the Centre said. “In contrast, very high to very extreme anomalies are expected in Ireland, United Kingdom, and Northwest Europe (Belgium, The Netherlands, northern Germany, Poland, Denmark and parts of Sweden and Finland). Large with high to very extreme FWI anomalies are also expected along the Danube basin in Austria, Hungary, and Romania.”

Spain recently made EU history when it made its first request ever for wildfire response reinforcements from the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism. In response to Spain’s activation, the European Commission has mobilized two rescEU planes stationed in France, with the expectation of deploying to Spain on Aug. 14.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: For the first time, Spain seeks support from European allies to fight forest fires, joining multiple other nations

Canada pledges $46M to wildfire research across nation

Fire near Excelsior Creek

Canada has pledged to fund 30 wildfire research projects across the nation, totaling nearly $46 million. While today its National Preparedness Level remains at its highest level with 625 active fires (112 Out of Control), with national and international deployments underway, and near record areas burnt this season, Canada has committed to ensure its wildfire resilience, prevention, mitigation and recovery programs are backed by solid science and innovation.

Corey Hogan, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson, announced on Aug. 12 as part of Natural Resources Canada’s Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge program. The new projects build on the previous $12 million investment to establish the Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada, which is focused on deliverables under a global wildfire cooperation agreement signed by G7 nations in July.

“Wildfires are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more dangerous — and more and more communities across Canada are feeling the impacts first-hand,” Hogan said. ‘That’s why our government is stepping up to strengthen how we manage and reduce wildfire risks across the country. Through this investment, we’re closing knowledge gaps, improving risk assessments and supporting Indigenous-led projects that restore cultural fire stewardship — all in service of keeping Canadians safe.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Global wildfire cooperation agreement signed by G7 nations

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broke down where the 30 projects will take place across the nation. The vast majority are being done in British Columbia, while Alberta and Manitoba have only one project each. No projects are scheduled for Saskatchewan.

For the first time, Spain seeks support from European allies to fight forest fires, joining multiple other nations

Europe’s wildfires this year are already nearing historic levels, according to the continent’s civil protection agency.

The European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism has already been activated 16 times for wildfires in 2025, the same number of times the mechanism was activated for wildfires during all of 2024. The activation allows other nations within the continent to offer personnel and equipment to the affected nation.

The most noteworthy activation happened on Wednesday, when Spain requested wildfire response reinforcements for the first time in the nation’s history, the EU agency said. In response to Spain’s activation, the European Commission has mobilized two rescEU planes stationed in France, with the expectation of deploying to Spain on Thursday.

Spain is under a high temperature alert through to Monday, with the nation’s General Directorate of Civil Protection expecting possible “extraordinary” winds from the Cantabrian Sea, heightening the risk of wildfire spread.

Credit: General Directorate of Civil Protection

“More than 5,000 State Security Forces personnel are collaborating in extinguishing the fires, ensuring evacuations and confinement, controlling traffic on blocked roads, and investigating the cause of the fires,” the directorate said in a recent press release. “The committee’s objective in this situation is to continue providing a coordinated response, optimally allocate state resources, and respond quickly to the emergency.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Europe wildfires continue to rage as temperatures soar

Numerous other nations have also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, including:

  • Greece, which activated the mechanism on Aug. 12 and received reinforcements from Sweden, Czechia, Moldova, and Romania.
  • Bulgaria received aircraft support from Czechia, Slovakia, France, Hungary, Romania, and Sweden after it activated the mechanism.
  • Albania got aircraft support from Croatia, Bulgaria, Italy, Czechia, and Slovakia.
  • Montenegro got aircraft from Czechia, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.

Nearly 200 Texas counties facing wildfire disaster, governor says

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 191 counties on Tuesday due to heightened wildfire danger across the state.

Abbott said the counties face an “imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life” due to forecast fire weather conditions. The Texas A&M Forest Service raised the state’s wildland fire preparedness level to level 2, indicating that elevated fire danger is observed in some regions of the state. There are reportedly 11 aircraft on standby to assist ground crews in the event of widespread fires.

“Our No. 1 priority is to protect the safety and well-being of Texans across the state,” Abbott said in a press release. “I issued a disaster declaration to provide all necessary resources to communities who could be affected by wildfires. Texans are urged to regularly monitor wildfire conditions and heed the guidance of local officials and emergency management personnel to protect yourselves and your loved ones.”

The Texas Division of Emergency Management, after the declaration, activated over 100 firefighters, along with engines, bulldozers, and aircraft, through the state forest service. Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters through the Texas National Guard are also on standby, though an exact number was not given.

Credit: Texas A&M Forest Service

The state is currently experiencing a rainfall surplus, but that’s expected to morph into deficits in several areas due to ongoing drying, state forestry officials said. Areas below 25% of normal have emerged across numerous areas, as northeast Texas is expected to continue seeing fires.

“Although most of the state has seen some measurable rain in the past 30 days, it has been 2-3 weeks since any significant rain events have happened in parts of South, Central Texas, and pockets along the Red River and Northeast Texas,” the service said. “Most of the areas of highest rainfall totals in the Hill Country will disappear on the 30-day map later this week.”

Click here for Texas’ latest fire potential updates.

LA wildfires’ actual death toll is in the hundreds, new research argues

Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County, January 2025. Photo: CalFire

The total number of deaths from the Los Angeles fires of early 2025 is far higher than the official count of fatalities, researchers have found.

The death toll from the Eaton and Palisades fires that burned Los Angeles communities in January recently rose to 31 after officials discovered a body more than six months after the disaster.

The deaths of numerous people who died from the fires’ effects in the immediate aftermath, however, would raise the fires’ death toll to 440, according to the recently published study. Researchers from Helsinki, Finland, and Boston, Massachusetts, looked into all deaths within Los Angeles County between Jan. 5 and Feb. 1 to find how many excess deaths the wildfires caused.

The researchers included partially attributable deaths, like those from lung or heart conditions worsened by smoke or stress, and indirect deaths, like disruptions to health systems and mental health impacts. They then compared those deaths to data from 2018, 2019, and 2024, excluding the years from 2020 to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers found there were 6,371 deaths observed during the fires and in the immediate aftermath of the fires, compared with the 5,931 expected deaths based on previous years.

Eugenio Paglino, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the Helsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health, told Wildfire Today that part of the reason why excess deaths aren’t included in the death tolls of wildfires or other natural disasters is because of the numerous difficulties associated with calculating excess deaths, specifically the variability in weekly deaths.

“While observed deaths can be obtained from public data repositories, expected deaths have to be modeled based on pre-disaster mortality trends,” Paglino said. “This modeling is subject to uncertainty and in the case of elevated temporal frequency (e.g. weekly data) and relatively small populations (even in LA weekly deaths are around 1,000) the week-to-week variability can be elevated. This variability makes statistical modeling challenging.”

However, Paglino and the other researchers are hopeful that their research will act as a framework to guide future efforts in the aftermath of disasters. Click here to read the full study.

Suicides, overdoses spike in wake of Maui’s Lahaina wildfire in 2023

The risk of suicides and overdoses in the wake of disastrous wildfires is immediate, according to new research published by the University of Hawai’i.

The Maui wildfire of August 2023 in the community of Lahaina killed over 100 people and destroyed over 2,200 structures. The deaths, however, continued long after the flames died out.

Through using vital health statistics and census data from 2014 through 2023, researchers found that in the same month that the wildfire burned, suicide and overdose rates increased by 97% in Maui. If deaths were limited to just suicides, the death rate was 182% higher in Maui than other islands in the state. The combined suicide and overdose death rate for non-Maui counties in Hawai’i also saw a significant increase of 46%.

“Nationally and globally, we have seen an increase in devastating wildfires, and these fires can have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of communities,” said Alex Ortega, dean of the Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health and a co-author of the study. “Public health must be adequately prepared to respond to serious mental health consequences of wildfires and other climate-related disasters that are increasing in both frequency and severity.”

Researchers said the study’s findings show that early behavioral health intervention must be prioritized during disaster responses. They also recommended that suicide and overdose prevention be included in wildfire response and recovery plans.

The most recent CDC data was used in the study, but researchers plan on using 2024 data once it’s available to see whether there was a sustained increase in suicides and/or overdoses after more time has elapsed since the wildfires.

“Prior research has found similar effects in the months after wildfires and other disasters. But the immediacy of the effects on suicide rates that we observed in Maui are unique and troubling,” said co-author Jonathan Purtle, associate professor at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.

Click here to read the full research study.

Canada brush fire caused by bird dropping fish on powerline

Canadian fire officials this month responded to a fishy fire in British Columbia.

Fire crews responded to a landscape fire burning six kilometers south of the small town of Ashcroft. There, they found the cause of the fire was a fish.

Investigators found a fish in the burned dry grasses of the field after the burned area had cleared, according to Ashcroft Fire Rescue. The fish originated from a river three kilometers east from the fire, and officials believe a local osprey dropped the fish onto a power line, causing embers to drop onto the dry grasses below.

“We do suspect by the size of the fish and the heat of the day probably caused the rather tired bird to drop its catch,” fire officials said in a social media post. “Or another suspicion could be that it’s tired of raw fish and wanted to give cooked a try. We may never know the answer, but it has been verified that our prime suspect sustained no injuries in the incident and is still flying at large.”

The fish-caused fire didn’t cause any damage, only burning just over an acre of land. When crews arrived on scene, numerous individuals were already fighting the fire. Ashcroft Fire Rescue was eventually able to cool the perimeter and burned area with an engine and tender. Roughly 4,800 gallons of water were used to cool the fire down, and crews were thankful high winds were not a factor.

“The suspect osprey has been caught and is being held in custody for questioning,” fire officials said in their tongue-in-cheek Facebook post. “The judge has not granted bail as the suspect poses an extreme flight risk!”

This is not the first time Wildfire Today and others have noted the involvement of a bird, and many other animals, in the starting of a wildfire. Sometimes intentional, sometimes accidental. A search on the term “animal arson” (use the quotation marks) in the above Search will deliver several tales of critter pyromaniacs over many years.

Credit: Ashcroft Fire Rescue

Utah declares State of Emergency over worsening wildfire outbreaks

Utah Governor Spencer Cox declared a 30-day State of Emergency on Thursday due to worsening wildfire outbreaks across the state, a press release from the governor’s office said.

The state has seen just under 700 wildfires as of Thursday, according to the state government’s online wildfire dashboard. The fires have burned 127,135 acres, more burned land than wildfires caused in the state during 2024 and 2023 combined.

The state of emergency order allows officials to use all available state resources to protect lives, homes, livestock and drinking water supplies from the fires throughout the state.

“Heroic efforts are underway as firefighters and emergency personnel work around the clock to save homes and neighborhoods,” Cox said in the press release. “We are mobilizing every tool at our disposal to support them and keep Utahns safe.”

Credit: Utah Fire Info

Stage 2 fire restrictions were enacted for most of the state after the executive order was issued. The restrictions outlaw any open fires, outdoor smoking, fireworks, welding, and internal combustion engine use without approved spark arrestors.

The state’s four largest active fires have burned more than 100,000 acres, the governor’s office said. Suppression costs for the fires have surpassed $103 million across local, state and federal agencies.

The Monroe Canyon Fire, the state’s largest wildfire this year, has burned 55,642 acres since it started on July 13 and has destroyed at least seven structures. The fire is 7% contained as of Friday morning and has 1,217 personnel working it. The fire caused evacuations for multiple residents throughout the area, which have since been lifted, according to the Sevier County Emergency Management Agency. Cox traveled to the fire on Friday to receive an on-site briefing and meet with local leaders and fire teams.

“We’ve increased our resources for night operations, so we will continue fireline personnel throughout the night on this fire all the way around,” Operations Section Chief Issac Powning said during Friday’s operational update.

Wildfire outbreak in Portugal triggers evacuations

Over 4,000 firefighters were deployed throughout Portugal due to a recent outbreak of wildfires throughout the north and center regions of the country.

Over 100 fires burned throughout the nation Tuesday into Wednesday, according to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority’s wildfire activity map. Most of the active wildfires, 47, are categorized as bushfires. There have been far fewer forest and agriculture fires, at 11 and 5, respectively.

The most affected areas are the town of Arouca in the Aveiro District, the municipality of Ponte da Barca in the Viana do Castelo District), and the village of Penamacor in the Castelo Branco District, according to the European Union’s Earth observation program Copernicus. The village of Fornos de Carvão, in the Arouca municipality, was evacuated early Wednesday morning.  

The wildfire with the highest single response in the nation is a forest structure fire burning near the populated areas of Canelas and Espiunca. Nearly 700 firefighters have deployed to the region, along with 244 ground transports and multiple aircraft.

Every community throughout Portugal falls either between the highest or high fire danger for the next week, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere. The conditions outlaw numerous burning activities, including piled waste burning, bonfires for recreation, and rockets with lit fuses.

LA’s Palisades Fire caused over $50B in home damages, report finds

A Redfin analysis based on data from the Los Angeles City Council found January’s historic Palisades Fire caused $51.7 billion worth of damage.

The fire damaged roughly 11,000 residential properties, most of which were single-family homes, according to the analysis. The analysis does not include the financial damages caused by the Eaton Fire that burned through Altadena.

“The council shared a list of 11,125 residential parcels in the city of Los Angeles that were inspected by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety after the wildfires,” the company said. “Redfin was able to match nearly 11,000 of those parcels with Redfin property value estimates as of December 2024—the month before the fires. Many, but not all, were completely destroyed by the fires.”

The typical impacted home had a value of $3.7 million before the fires, with nearly 100 properties valued at over $20 million. Other similarities shared by impacted properties include having a construction date of 1957, having 2,916 finished square feet, and having a First Street Fire Factor risk score of 5, or “major.”

The Palisades Fire ignited near Skull Rock in the Summit neighborhood at 10:30am, when gusts were reaching up to 60 mph, relative humidity was falling, and severe Santa Ana winds created a highly volatile environment for rapid fire spread, according to a timeline published in April. The fire quickly spread downhill and eastward, spreading 771 acres in 4 hours, 2,920 acres in 8 hours, and 15,832 acres in nearly 27 hours, which accounted for 70% of the fire’s total growth, despite it going on to burn for 43 more days. The Palisades Fire was fully contained on February 20 after burning over 23,000 acres, destroying 6,833 structures, and claiming 12 lives.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Timeline of LA’s historic wildfires outlined in new report

“A lot of people who lost their homes are renting while they work through the insurance claim process, and haven’t figured out whether, when or where they’ll buy again,” LA Redfin Premier real estate agent Greg Eubanks said in the analysis. “Some people whose homes burned in the Palisades have put their vacant lots up for sale, but those aren’t selling as quickly as the lots in Altadena because the price point in the Palisades is so much higher, which is a barrier for investors. It’s also a bit of a tough sell because infrastructure hasn’t been rebuilt yet—there are still no grocery stores.”