Heat waves, seen as a result of climate change in Europe, caused the most intense forest fires in recent years across the continent, while thousands of hectares of land were ash.
Europe is facing forest fires in recent days.
Heat waves, which are seen as a result of climate change in Europe, cause the most intense forest fires in recent years across the continent.
The low rainfall while the effect of heat waves continues makes forest fires more dangerous.
More than 5 times the area of Rome destroyed
The fires caused by the heat waves, which have been effective since July, caused the most destruction in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
In the fires caused by the extreme temperatures, an area more than 5 times the area of Rome, the capital of Italy, and more than the area of Istanbul, was turned into ashes.
More than 200,000 hectares burned in Spain
In Spain, the fires that have been effective since the beginning of summer in Galicia in the north of the country, Castilla y Leon and Castilla La Mancha in the central parts of the country and Extremadura in the southwest have destroyed thousands of hectares.
The fires, which were effective around the city of Ourense in Galicia, the region most damaged by the fires, burned an area of 2 thousand 300 hectares.
More than 500 people were evacuated from their homes due to forest fires around the province of Caceres in Extremadura.
Since the beginning of the year, 37 major forest fires broke out in the country, and more than 200,000 hectares of land have been ash.
79,000 hectares of land in Portugal was ash
In Spain’s neighbor Portugal, the fires that broke out in Covilha on 6 August and in Linhares city of Guarda region on 11 August caused destruction in large forest areas.
The Portuguese Civil Protection Agency announced that the latest fires destroyed 17 thousand hectares of land under the protection of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In the country where the hottest July of the last 100 years has been experienced, 79 thousand hectares of forest area burned this year.
Fires in Italy affected settlements
In Italy, some settlements were evacuated due to the fire that started on 27 July in a forest area near Savogna d’Isonzo on the Slovenian border.
120 people were evacuated in the forest fire on August 9 near the city of Savona in the northwest of the country.
27 thousand 883 hectares of forest area was damaged in the fires that broke out in the country until July 24 this year.
France requested support from Europe for the fires
Forest fires in France, which has experienced the driest period of the last 70 years, have been showing their effects since the end of July, while the government has difficulty in responding to the fires with its own resources.
Hundreds of firefighters from Germany, Romania, Poland, Austria and Greece came to the region to reinforce, to prevent the further spread of forest fires that have been raging for nearly a week in the south of the country, in Aveyron and the Gironde region in the southwest.
Thanks to the international firefighting support, the fires were brought under control yesterday, while the highways, which had been closed for a while, were opened in the fire areas.
At least 57,600 hectares of green space in France this year was destroyed by forest fires.
National Scientific Research Center (CNRS) officials emphasize that extreme heat and droughts may become commonplace in France, while warning that water shortages will be inevitable in the coming summer months.
More than twice the area of Luxembourg burned
The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) reports that prolonged heat waves and insufficient precipitation “It almost turned Europe into flint” and reported that fires spread rapidly.
Sharing the information that 660,000 hectares of land have been ash across the continent since the beginning of the year due to forest fires, EFFIS emphasized that the burned areas correspond to more than twice the area of Luxembourg.
Statistical estimates of EFFIS predict that the number of forest fires in 2022 in Spain, Romania, Italy, France and Croatia will exceed the average annual number of fires between 2006-2021.
Statistics indicate that by the end of this year, the number of fires in France could reach 269, 361 in Italy, 741 in Romania and 381 in Spain.
Fires will continue in France, while the most intense carbon emission since 2003
The European Union’s (EU) Copernicus satellite tracking system recorded intense carbon emissions, particularly over France, Spain and Portugal.
In the satellite images, the density of the smoke spread especially due to the fires in France last week drew attention.
According to the news of AA; According to the report of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), the highest level of carbon emissions since 2003, when records were kept in the Global Fire Assimilation System data, was recorded in the region where fires continued in France in the June-August period.
