International Association for the Defense of Flowers Proveneya & Nahiara

Proveneya & Nahiara · Updated Tuesday, August 11, 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 — 207,000 ha burned in 2026, six times the same period of 2025. August is the highest-risk month; 2025 remains this century's worst year, with nearly 400,000 ha burned.
New active fronts in León, Ávila and Cáceres.
Greece — A new wave of fires and evacuations near Athens is driven by strong winds; the greater Athens area is on maximum alert, with temperatures forecast above 42°C. The Boeotia fire burned 10,000 ha and forced over 1,000 evacuations; three firefighters have died nationwide. Another front in Rethymno, Crete remains critical.
France — 116,000 ha burned, an absolute historic record and nearly double its previous worst year (2022). The Gironde megafire burned for over a week; a local wildlife sanctuary reports hundreds of thousands of animals killed while fleeing.
Portugal — Viseu fire: about 13,000 ha, with aid requested from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. At peak, 39 active fires were counted nationwide; risk was maximum or very high across much of the country.
Italy — Estimates range from 40,000 to more than 100,000 ha nationwide; Sicily and Calabria are the worst-hit areas. No single consolidated official figure is available.
European Union — 254,000–275,000 ha burned since January, more than double the 2006–2025 historical average. Over 300,000 people were evacuated or confined in France and Spain during July; the figure is still rising with Greece's August crisis.

Africa

Algeria — At the July 18 peak, 154 fires were declared in 24 hours; 6 people died and about 150 homes were affected in Annaba. Residents fought the fire with their bare hands due to 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 were active at peak in Krasnoyarsk, Yamalo-Nenets and Irkutsk. Authorities link the increase to anomalous temperatures.

North America

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

South America

Ecuador — On August 11, seven fires were active and four controlled, according to the National Risk Management Secretariat. The Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve fire has burned at least 300 ha of páramo, threatening protected flora and fauna. More than 4,000 ha burned nationwide in early August; the Cuambo fire burned 1,443 ha before it was extinguished on August 5.
Brazil — 1.76 million ha burned in 2026 (satellite/GWIS), with 4,682 fire events. The Ministry of Environment warns of greater risk from August to October as the dry season begins.

Oceania

Australia — The southern-summer fire season (December–May) has passed. January's peak burned more than 400,000 ha in Victoria alone, with a state of disaster declared in 18 local governments. 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, driving 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, Government of Canada (CIFFC), GWIS/Brazil Ministry of Environment, Ecuador SNGR/ECU 911, AFAC/NEMA Australia, Reuters, France 24, CNN, Greenpeace Spain, NOAA, Copernicus Marine Service.