Proveneya & Nahiara · Updated Saturday, August 1, 2026

Wildfires 2026 — daily update. Pollinators are victims too — and they deserve to be counted. They are the great unknown of these fires, absent from the reporting.

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Europe

Spain — 180,000 ha burned according to MITECO (38 major fires, six times 2025); EFFIS satellite estimates put the figure at around 207,000 ha.
The Sierra Oeste megafire (Madrid-Ávila) was declared stabilized on July 30, though a flare-up persists near the San Juan reservoir. Valdemaqueda and Robledo de Chavela residents have returned home; San Martín de Valdeiglesias and Pelayos de la Presa residents have not.
New active fronts in León (San Cipriano del Condado, Valdelaloba) and Zamora (Fermoselle).
The government expects an "extraordinarily complicated" August and will fund 50% of the restoration of burned areas.
France — 116,000 ha burned: an absolute historic record, nearly double its previous worst year (2022).
The Gironde megafire alone: 42,000 ha and 220,000 evacuees.
Portugal — Viseu fire: about 13,000 ha, with aid requested from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. 39 active fires counted nationwide; fire risk "maximum or very high" across nearly the entire country.
Italy — Figures vary between sources (between 40,000 and 100,000+ ha nationwide); Sicily and Calabria are the worst-hit areas. No single consolidated official figure yet: treat with caution.
Greece — Only 2,037 ha burned in 2026: barely affected this year, and sending air support to other countries rather than receiving it.
European Union as a whole — Between 254,000 and 275,000 ha burned since January (depending on the source), more than double the 2006–2025 historical average. Over 300,000 people were evacuated or confined between Spain and France during July.

Africa

Algeria — 154 fires declared in 24 hours at the July 18 peak; 6 deaths and about 150 homes affected in Annaba. Residents were fighting the fire with their bare hands because of a lack of resources.

Asia

Turkey — About 95,000 ha burned: seven times the 2008–2020 historical average for this time of year.
Russia (Siberia) — About 600,000 ha burned cumulatively in 2026; 84,356 ha are currently active in Krasnoyarsk, Yamalo-Nenets and Irkutsk. Thousands of personnel and Mi-8 helicopters are deployed; authorities link the increase to anomalous temperatures.

North America

Canada — 3,848 fires and 2.92 million hectares burned since January, accelerating sharply through July. Ontario is the hardest-hit province: one fire, Thunder Bay 36, has already burned 314,000 ha and remains uncontained.
United States — Fire alert raised to maximum level.

South America

Brazil — 1.76 million hectares burned in 2026 (satellite/GWIS), with 4,682 fire events. The Ministry of Environment warns of even greater risk between August and October, when the dry season begins: the worst is still ahead.

Oceania

Australia — Its December–May southern-summer fire season has passed. The January peak burned over 400,000 ha in Victoria alone, with a state of disaster declared across 18 local government areas. It is now southern winter, with no significant activity.

Global context

Oceans — Record-high average sea-surface temperature: 20.86°C on June 21.
Oceans — 37% of oceans are under a marine heatwave, the engine behind these simultaneous fire fronts.
According to Greenpeace, 95% of wildfires have a human origin — intentional, negligent or accidental — rather than being a purely natural phenomenon.

Sources: MITECO, EFFIS/Copernicus, French Interior Ministry, Portuguese Civil Protection, Italian Civil Protection, Algerian Civil Protection, Turkish Meteorological Service, Russian Federal Forest Agency / EcoTicias, Government of Canada (CIFFC), GWIS/Brazil Ministry of Environment, AFAC/NEMA Australia, Greenpeace Spain, NOAA, Copernicus Marine Service.