This year, wildfires across the EU burned almost half the size of Sicily, according to the latest data from Copernicus’ European Forest Fire Information System.
So far, nearly 2,000 flames have been detected in 2025, with roughly 986,000 hectares, more than three times the previous year’s record 227,627 hectares.
Since late February, the average monthly fire count has been the highest on record.
Spain suffered the worst damage, burning over 380,000 hectares, 1.5 times the size of the state of Luxembourg.
Portugal suffered even worse damage compared to its size, destroying around 263,000 hectares, about eight times the size of Malta.
The emergency prompted cross-country assistance, and Maltese firefighters took part in efforts in Portugal and Greece.
One of the latest interventions was reported on Sunday in Corgas, central Portugal.
Which EU countries invest most in fire prevention?
Throughout the EU, there are around 400,000 firefighters on duty, Eurostat reports.
Germany has the largest forces (66,000), followed by France (52,000), Poland (49,000) and Italy (43,500).
However, compared to the size of the job market, the most firefighters are jobs in Croatia (0.45%), while Greece is two seconds later (0.41%).
The Netherlands is at the bottom at 0.08%.
Romania has the largest fire prevention budget in the EU
But in terms of money, it is Romania that guides you.
The government allocated nearly 1% of its budget to wildfire protection, followed by 0.7% of Estonia and Greece.
The countries with the lowest budget are Denmark (0.1%), Malta (0.2%), Portugal and Austria (both 0.3%).
The overall EU average is 0.5%, totaling 40 billion euros being spent.