Europe wildfires nearly quadrupled this year: EU monitor

ISTANBUL (AA) – The number of wildfires in Europe this year is nearly four times the average seen in the past 15 years, according to the EU’s Copernicus Earth Observation Program.

“The total number of fires in the EU as of 23 July and since the beginning of the year stood at 1,926,” read a post on the program’s Twitter account.

The average for the 2006-2021 reference period was around 520, it added.

Another tweet on Thursday warned of “very extreme danger” in several areas of Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

Described as “unprecedented, frightening, and apocalyptic,” the ongoing heat wave in Europe has claimed more than 1,700 lives in Portugal and Spain alone, the World Health Organization said last week.